UPenn’s Phi Delta Theta Is Catching Heat For Including A Beyoncé Sex Doll In Christmas Picture

Bogey Wells11 years ago

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]