Valedictorian gets to finish sneaky speech on TV German boy fired toy bullets at Thai king
UNITED STATES: A Pennsylvania high school principal’s decision to switch the mic off on a valedictorian’s unapproved speech has earned a place in the annals of disciplinary decisions that backfired terribly.
Peter Butera’s classmates at Wyoming Area Secondary Centre began cheering last Friday’s graduation speech – which had condemned student government as a powerless sham and criticised unnamed administrators as authoritarian – seconds after his principal booted him off the stage midsentence.
From there, his remarks rose to the front page of Reddit and were repeated on CNN and in many newspapers.
And on Wednesday, less than a week after graduating, the 18-yearold was invited onto the Jimmy Kimmel Live television show to finish what he started.
‘‘Since the school wouldn’t let you finish your speech at the graduation ceremony, I thought it would be nice to let you finish on television,’’ Kimmel said.
So Butera did, picking up at the last sentence his principal had let him say in his valedictory.
’’Hopefully for the sake of future students, more people of power within our school, who do not do so already, will begin to prioritise education itself as well as the empowering of students,’’ he said.
And he was now speaking not to about 200 classmates on a football field, but to viewers across the United States.
Butera continued: ‘‘Because at the end of the day, it is not what we have done as Wyoming Area students or athletes that will define our lives, but what we will go on to do as Wyoming Area Alumni.
‘‘And I hope that every one of my fellow classmates here today, as well as myself, will go on to do great things in this world, and find true happiness and success.’’
Butera then wished his classmates happiness and success, and thanked everyone again for ‘‘this great celebration’’. Nothing too scandalous. But as Butera had already pointed out, he had finished the most scathing parts of his speech before he was cut off.
‘‘All you did was give the school like a 2-star Yelp review,’’ Kimmel cracked. ‘‘You didn’t do anything that bad.’’
But at another point, with no humour in his voice, the host said: ‘‘Whoever cut that mic off should not be in charge of education of any kind.’’
That would be principal Jon Pollard, who hasn’t responded to a request for comment from The Washington Post, though he has been making the media rounds too – in a way.
In a statement on the Citizen’s Voice website, Pollard confirmed Butera’s account that the student had submitted a different speech from the one he ended up reading – mostly the same, Butera said, except for his dark turn near the end.
‘‘We reviewed it in my office the morning of graduation after the final practice,’’ Pollard wrote.
‘‘Protecting the students and staff are my number one concern,’’ he added.
‘‘When he veered off of the speech he had practiced, I was obligated to act to ensure the remainder of Peter’s speech was not demeaning or derogatory to his classmates, the underclassmen, faculty, staff or administration.’’
In fact, Butera’s speech as delivered had not named any of the administrators he criticised.
The principal wrote that he’d been getting hate mail since the incident, but wouldn’t hesitate to cut a mic off again ‘‘the next time a student attempts to hijack the ceremony for their own agenda’’.
Asked how he was handling the fame and fallout from graduation day, Butera sounded a bit done with celebrity.
‘‘I don’t think I’m doing any more interviews on the matter.’’
– Washington Post GERMANY: German prosecutors are investigating a 14-year-old boy suspected of shooting plastic bullets from a toy gun at the king of Thailand, who was cycling near Munich late one evening earlier this month.
The unidentified boy, together with a 13-year-old who is too young to be investigated, is suspected of having fired the gun from a garden or house window at a group of cyclists that included King Maha Vajiralongkorn, a regular visitor to Bavaria, and his entourage.
‘‘A toy pistol, a soft air pistol, was used. First it was fired at a group of cyclists, one of whom was the king of Thailand,’’ said Thomas Rauscher, prosecutor in the southern town of Landshut, yesterday. Neither the king nor any of his entourage was hurt.
Prosecutors said the king’s household said they had no interest in charges being brought in the case.
It was not clear who had drawn the incident to the attention of the police. Representatives at the Thai Embassy in Berlin were not available for comment. The Royal Household in Bangkok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Later, more shots were allegedly fired at the king’s car in the small, historic town of Erding, some 35 kilometres from Munich, said the prosecutor.
The 14-year-old is being investigated for attempted grievous bodily harm and it was unclear whether the boys knew who they were shooting at, said the prosecutor.
His office will decide whether to charge the teenager with a criminal offence. The incident took place on June 10 at about 11pm (local time).
The king ascended the throne in December after the death in October of his father, the revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who had reigned for seven decades.
His coronation is likely to take place at the end of the year, a deputy prime minister in Thailand has said. – Reuters