ΔΚΕ At LSU Mocks 1970 Kent State Tragedy With Huge Front Yard Sign
Where does mocking a campus massacre rank on the offensive joke scale? You’ve got to think it’s way past your standard, off-color “too soon” joke and somewhere in the same neighborhood as a 9/11 or Pearl Harbor punchline. Wherever it falls on the hierarchy of inappropriate jokes, it’s clearly across the “Yeah, let’s keep that one in our back pocket” line. It’s just amazing that, among a group of college-educated young men, not one spoke up and said, “Guys, maybe we shouldn’t hang this thing up. You know, because it’s kinda fucked up.”
The sign was hung before the LSU-Kent State football on Saturday.
The massacre the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity was referring to is of course the 1970 incident on the campus of Kent State, when troops with the Ohio National Guard opened fire on a group of protesting students, an estimated 2,000 of them. Four students were killed.
From NBC News 33:
“I love my Tigers, but this is inappropriate,” a viewer said after submitting a picture to the NBC33 News room.
The sign reads, “Getting massacred is nothing new to Kent St.” It was hanging over the entrance to the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, which is located on West Lakeshore Drive.
And picking on lowly Kent State? Poor form, guys.
To their credit, the chapter apologized later with a new sign:
[via NBC News 33]
Image via The Daily Reveille
Why are certain topics (like this one, apparently) completely out of bounds, while other equally or more heinous topics (don’t think I need to give examples) are fair game? Comedy crosses the line sometimes. Don’t flip your lid over this.
12 years ago at 9:20 pmNo one ever said it wasn’t funny, and I’m all for too soon jokes. It just reflects extremely poorly on the organization.
12 years ago at 11:06 pmI hate DKE but seriously, It was 40 yrs ago. WTFC.
12 years ago at 9:25 pmThe only good liberal is a dead liberal. DKE is TFTC.
12 years ago at 9:39 pmDKE at LSU is crazy. They do whatever the fuck they want (even more so than y’all frat stars). As bad as this is, it is nothing out of the ordinary.
12 years ago at 9:48 pmMy father was leading a platoon of grunts during the Cambodian Incursion when all that went down, with C/5th Bn/12th Inf./199th Infantry BDE.
12 years ago at 9:52 pmWoah, TFM has decided to get moral and judgmental? This site is constantly perpetuating behavior like this. Doing so is what gives it fuel. Take a look at yourself and your own fraternity before calling them out; everyone who takes pride in this site is just as guilty for this.
12 years ago at 9:58 pmDeke at LSU is the embodiment of TFTC
12 years ago at 10:09 pmThey really don’t give a fuck
12 years ago at 11:18 pm
12 years ago at 10:13 pmThe fact that you “brothers” think this is “bad form”, “too far”, or “fucked up” is a testament to your lack of TFTC, these guys said fuck it yolo and hung what they wanted to hang… grow a pair
12 years ago at 10:29 pm“You” are a fucking “idiot” who needs to “die”.
12 years ago at 11:12 pm“^”
12 years ago at 11:50 pmYou just actually said “yolo”….
12 years ago at 1:40 pmHaha. If you don’t go to LSU, you don’t know that this is a tradition… And worse banners have been put up, so I’m pretty surprised they picked this one to report on.
12 years ago at 10:39 pmEvery game day I look forward to these signs
12 years ago at 11:17 pm^ This guy knows.
They might seem evil, but their guys are cool for the most part. Had a beer with their president last night after the game.
12 years ago at 11:45 pmIf you don’t go to LSU, you probably know how to read and write.
12 years ago at 12:02 am^Well played, sir.
12 years ago at 12:51 am