Student who revealed leopard print underpants at graduation ceremony won't receive diploma

A senior at Jack Britt High School in Fayetteville, North Carolina, who stripped to his underpants on stage at graduation on Wednesday won't receive his diploma and will be barred from school property and off-campus events, Cumberland County schools Superintendent Frank Till Jr. has said.



Quintin Murphy was walking across the stage at the Crown Coliseum when he paused, turned toward the audience, pulled his purple graduation robe over his head, wrestled out of an unbuttoned white shirt, then hopped and posed with his arms outstretched. He had taken his trousers off at his seat and was wearing only leopard-print underpants, socks and shoes. Many screamed in surprise and laughed. Till and the members of the school board, sitting on stage behind Murphy, weren't amused.

"Our schools have worked so hard," Till said. "It used to be that the audience would be disruptive at graduation. We've worked hard to get the audiences to respect our students. This young man chose not to show respect for his colleagues." After a few seconds of posing, Murphy quickly gathered his robe and shirt and hurried off the stage. Till said police officers escorted him to another area. "Then, graduation went on as if the incident hadn't occurred," Till said. "I was very proud of the students and very proud of the school."


YouTube link.

Murphy, who was a member of the Jack Britt football team, wasn't charged with a crime. But Till recommended to Principal Denise Garison that the school withhold Murphy's diploma and bar him indefinitely from the school's property and events, such as football games. Garison agreed. Murphy is still a graduate and can prove that with transcripts. "The actual diploma, we really don't have to give that," Till said. "He won't have that symbolic piece of paper." Murphy's segment is also being deleted from the school's official video recording of graduation, Till said.