SARASOTA, FLORIDA — The Sarasota County School District is investigating a racist ‘promposal’ posted by a high school student on social media.
Noah Crowley, 18, posted an invite to prom to another Riverview High School student on Snapchat. But the wording he chose has offended many viewers.
The sign reads: “If I was black, I’d be picking cotton, but I’m white so I’m picking u 4 prom?”
"I was just like, wow," Erin Williams tells Fox 13. "You think this happens in other cities and states and it's just, like, no it's right here in your hometown, the school that you go to, a boy that you know."
The proposal sparked immediate backlash. Crowley’s fellow students say they are disgusted by the sign.
Riverview principal Kathy Wilks issued a statement saying that they do not condone that type of message.
"Many who saw the post are understandably upset with its contents, as well as the subsequent commentary to the post.”
Crowley apologized on Monday night.
“Anyone who knows me...knows that that’s not how we truly feel,” he said, according to local station WTSP. “It was a completely [sic] joke and it went too far. After reading the texts and Snapchat’s, I truly see how I have offended people and I’m sorry.”
The NAACP is calling for the school district to not allow Crowley back in school.