UPenn’s Phi Delta Theta Is Catching Heat For Including A Beyoncé Sex Doll In Christmas Picture
It’s about 40 degrees in Philadelphia right now, but the water is hot for the men of Phi Delta Theta at the University of Pennsylvania.
It started Sunday night when someone posted a Christmas card to the fraternity’s Facebook page. It features the brothers–a few guys are wearing tacky Christmas outfits, some guy is eating a fish, and there’s a ballsy dude wearing a Tony Romo jersey. Oh, and they were joined by a Beyoncé blow-up sex doll.
The brothers claim it was a gag gift from the group’s Secret Santa event, but that didn’t stifle the flames in the least.
Their UPenn classmates quickly discovered the photo and the backlash began. Many different campus advocacy organizations have issued statements on the incident and they are thoroughly pissed.
From The Daily Pennsylvanian:
“Given the larger conversations and actions taking place in the country, there’s never been a worse time to do what they did,” said College senior Keishawn Johnson, president of Penn’s chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
The 5B, a coalition of minority groups on campus, believe the fraternity should face serious repercussions for its actions.
“The inclusion of a racially and sexually charged object in such a flagrant fashion displays a serious and immediate need for repercussions that reflect the severity of this misogynistic, racist offense,” a joint statement issued by the 5B–the five umbrella coalitions for minority groups on campus–and the Penn Consortium for Undergraduate Women said. “We–UMOJA, APSC, UMC, Latin@ Coalition, Lambda Alliance, and PCUW–firmly believe that when an event like this marginalizes one of our communities, it marginalizes us all.”
They further stated their desire to have the fraternity’s rush activities suspended until they reach a certain level of cultural sensitivity training.
In their statements, UMOJA, 5B, and PCUW called for disciplinary action to be taken against the fraternity. UMOJA specifically called for the chapter to be fined and its rush activities to be suspended until “a council of peers deem it acceptable to resume activity after and instituted education process.” Further, the group urged the Office of Student Affairs/Fraternity and Sorority Life to enforce “mandatory cultural competency courses for all members to resume activity…” and for the fraternity’s national organization to be notified.
Phi Delt has issued an apology and claims the decision to include the doll was a bad one, and it should have been avoided.
The draft apology, signed “The Brothers of Phi Delta Theta at the University of Pennsylvania,” said the Beyoncé sex toy was “distasteful” and that “once removed from the packaging, it bore no semblance to the artist beyond skin color adding to its offensive nature.” The apology said “there were absolutely no prejudicial motivations behind the gift,” but acknowledged that “the absence of racial motivation is no justification for this act of poor judgement and the decision not to include a sex toy in a holiday picture should have been an easy one.”
No action has been taken against the fraternity as of today..
[via The Daily Pennsylvanian]
Damn Liberals
11 years ago at 7:51 pmThis is why we can’t have nice things?
11 years ago at 9:37 pmI notice how stupid the question mark looks, laps being taken.
11 years ago at 10:01 pmI’m Ron Burgundy?
11 years ago at 12:49 pmAm I the only one who has no fucking clue how this is offensive?
11 years ago at 7:55 pmThe blowup doll is black. You can’t use anything black without getting permission from the justice brothers (al not so sharpton, and eric weiner holder) and the media. They decide if it’s offensive or not.
11 years ago at 8:04 pmUnless you give them multi-million dollar contracts, right…Jerry.
11 years ago at 8:57 pmI believe they prefer to use the term “donations” but yes, Mr Frock_Itch.
11 years ago at 8:59 pmEveryone should give these guys a break… There is nothing racist about this, and no guy can resist a little brown sugar 😉 I can’t really say I’m surprised. The sad thing is that any of those guys who were too afraid to speak to black girls nefore or probably traumatized and even more afraid to approach a black girl. They shouldn’t be though, lots of us love white guys.
Side note: that blow up doll is hideous and looks nothing like Beyonce… lol
11 years ago at 3:17 pmI opened the article expecting it to be about people making fun of them for being weird enough to have a sex doll in the picture… Clearly I forgot we live in the land of Political Correctness and “triggers”.
11 years ago at 8:35 pmAs a student here, I can say that not only was the doll meant as a gag gift, but also the students here have been searching for everything and anything to protest about. These same students who are saying that this blow-up doll is “racist” and “sexist” are the same ones who entered our President’s home during holiday party (in which she opened up her home to the entire school), had a lie-down for Mike Brown, and verbally attacked her (despite our president joining in the lie-down to show support http://www.thedp.com/article/2014/12/protesters-take-over-gutmanns-holiday-party). In the TFM article, you guys say that students are pissed, but that’s only a few people. Anyone who decides to say anything other than “Phi Delt is racist” on social media is instantly attacked and labeled a racist. I don’t want you to forget that most of Penn thinks this is a bullshit accusation that is based on a few unsubstantiated accusations aimed at these men. (In all actuality, the photo has two – possibly Confederate – generals in the background — which honestly I thought would get more flak)
But what surprises me the most is that at an institution like Penn, several minority groups and general Penn students were quick to label these men racist, sexist pigs before even hearing their account of what happened. And, no one pays attention to the fact that this fraternity has been known to volunteer in the greater Philadelphia area by mentoring students at local schools and encouraging these local students to apply to college in order to better themselves and their current economic conditions.
And before anyone calls me a racist for stating the truth of this situation, just know that I’m black and in a traditional Greek fraternity (so calling me an uncle tom will suffice).
11 years ago at 8:40 pmOh, and you may want to know that Phi Delt is currently under investigation for this incident and has suspended all chapter activities. http://www.thedp.com/article/2014/12/phi-delta-theta-under-investigation
11 years ago at 8:44 pmNone of us would ever call you an Uncle Tom, but those damn liberals would. If I remember correctly, one congressman a while back called Clarence Thomas an Uncle Tom and nobody said a word about it. Anyways, thank you for being a voice of reason while everyone else is yelling “fire”.
11 years ago at 11:10 amThanks man. Although, unfortunately for Phi Delt, Penn only has Spring Rush for freshman rushes.. if this isn’t cleared up over winter break (which is unlikely given open rush starts the 14th of January and the university is backed up with other problems on campus), Phi Delt may not be able to participate in formal recruitment, which would screw them over with effects lasting years. And all that because people are overreacting to a blow up doll.
As Whiskey_Tango mentioned, Greek life in/outside Philadelphia is strong and does a lot for their respective communities. And, it’s ironic that something like this will lead to Phi Delt being viewed as racist, but several multicultural houses on our campus (specifically, black and latino fraternities) actively discriminate during parties and rush events (make non-minorities feel unwelcome) but that is never in the news. You can’t have it both ways, in my opinion.
*Also, how the hell is an all-black or all-hispanic fraternity considered “multi”-cultural when there’s only once ethnicity in the house?
11 years ago at 1:03 pmThe Multicultural is the name of their council like how we are a part of IFC. There is NPHC(Divine 9), PC(Sororities), IFC(Fraternities), Multicultural(Traditionally _____), etc.
11 years ago at 4:03 pmI’m a member of a Fraternity in the Greater Philadelphia Area as well, and I can agree that the Greek culture in these parts are quite strong and overall provide a positive impact on the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area. It’s bullshit that we donate our time, effort, and sometimes even our own money to improving the community; however, when/if we try to make a funny Christmas picture we become crucified as those “racist white frat boys”. I have personally showed up to underprivileged families homes on Thanksgiving Eve and dropped off enough food to feed their whole family, yet we don’t receive any recognition from these same groups trying to tear us down now. They only try to see the glass half empty. Fuck them.
11 years ago at 12:47 pmI didn’t even realize it was a race issue until they read the quote- I thought at worst it would be some women’s rights crap.
11 years ago at 9:32 pmI thought it was gonna be a legit Beyoncé blow up lol
11 years ago at 8:24 amWhat the fuck are they going to investigate. All the facts are already on the damn table.
11 years ago at 1:02 pmLooks just like her.
11 years ago at 7:55 pmOf course someone had to get offended by something that didn’t have anything to do with them.
11 years ago at 7:56 pmI thought it was ET
11 years ago at 7:56 pmI thought it was Michelle
11 years ago at 7:58 pmSo you’re telling me if it was a white blow up doll we’d be all good? Isn’t that a little racist too?
11 years ago at 7:56 pmThey had no choice. Ferguson already burned down the store that sold all the damn white devil dolls.
11 years ago at 8:13 pmReally, they got mad over that?
11 years ago at 7:56 pmHow does a Christmas card with a blowup doll get turned into a race problem. The softness of current American culture is ridiculous. I bet it wouldn’t be a problem if a black guy was holding the doll.
11 years ago at 7:57 pmLet me fill you in. It’s mainly the particular group of people mentioned in the article and apologists that play into their bullshit. No one else likes them and is sick of the race-baiting.
11 years ago at 8:01 pmI agree. The need to be politically correct in America right now is what makes it “ok” for groups like these to go after these kinds of minuscule problems, if you can even call it a problem. What is even more ridiculous is that they have real influence how these kinds of things are handled, even in small numbers.
11 years ago at 10:18 pmIt’s the same thing that happened with “Cripmas” at Clemson two weeks ago. A bunch of people making noise because my ancestors oppressed their ancestors about 200 years ago, and they’re still pissed.
11 years ago at 1:01 pmBunch of baby back bitches!
11 years ago at 7:57 pmThey just needed a white one too and everyone would have been cool. Ebony and ivory.
11 years ago at 7:58 pm