A thirteen-year-old Missouri boy was suspended from his school for participating in a viral "can art" trend on Snapchat in 2024.
The reason?
He glued some Dr Pepper cans together in the shape of an AK-47.
An anonymous parent alerted the school because she felt the artwork was dangerous. Believe it or not, rather than laughing at the parent, the Mountain View-Birch Tree School District chose to punish the budding artist.
Lana Tharp, the Mountainview-Birch Tree R-III Superintendent, released the following statement:
We have enough information to believe the video has caused fear to at least one student and understandably so. The safety and well-being of our students is our top priority and we responded swiftly to address the concerns.
The boy and his mom were called into the office and informed that he would be suspended for three days for … wait for it …
Cyberbullying!
Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Dr Pepper, but I don't mind people posting pictures of it online.
I certainly wouldn't suspend someone for their poor choice in soda even if he were cyberbullying me with those awful 23 flavors.
But this is the world we live in.
Luckily, the Goldwater Institute's American Freedom Network heard about the situation and provided a pro bono attorney to the family to sue the pants off the school for violating the kid's First Amendment rights.
After all, we're not living in Germany or England.
We still have freedom of speech here in America!
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