Homecoming king is target of insults
Angleton High faces criticism for failing to defend student
Eddy Wilson felt proud after winning homecoming king last week, but the moment turned sour when hateful comments flooded a Facebook post congratulating him and his corresponding queen on the Angleton High School page.
The school posted a photo of the homecoming king and queen on its social media platforms Saturday. Hateful comments regarding Wilson’s “feminine appearance,” prompted the school to take down the post on Facebook. Supporters of Wilson have since started their own movement with the hashtag #TeamEddy. The post is still up on the school’s X account, formerly Twitter.
Wilson said most of the hateful comments were from parents of students in the community, and he is disappointed the school took the post down rather than defending him. He wanted the school to post a message about not condoning hate.
“The student body voted for me and the parents were upset, and they were just allowed to say whatever they wanted about me,” Wilson said. “The school is condoning adults talking down to a minor . ... They don’t know anything about me. They don’t know what I’ve been through.”
Wilson, who’s a senior and varsity cheer captain, said he loves to wear makeup, dress up and get his hair done, and as such he’s faced harassment before. Students have vandalized his locker, cheer uniform and tied his shoelaces in knots in the boys’ locker room.
The district provided a written response regarding its decision to delete the post: “AISD chose to take down the social media post announcing the homecoming king and homecoming queen due to some of the comments that were considered not to be within the scope that the post intended.”
Among those showing support for Wilson was Angleton ISD Trustee Michael Stroman, who posted Tuesday on Facebook: “Eddy Wilson, you are a wonderful person. Congratulations.”
“I have so many people that are behind me supporting me,” Wilson said. “The good definitely outweighs the bad.”