The University of Wisconsin Homecoming Committee posted a video Monday in an attempt to get students excited for upcoming homecoming festivities. But, the UW community quickly responded with criticisms.
The committee has since removed the video from their social media accounts. Additionally, they posted an apology on their Facebook and Instagram accounts that said the regretted omitting images of students from underrepresented populations.
https://www.facebook.com/wiscohoco/posts/10157312683505837
The committee also apologized to the students who were not in the final product and to anyone who was upset by the video.
UW student Janiece Piolet said in a Facebook post that the video is racist and mirrors the racism that she experienced during her time on campus.
https://www.facebook.com/janiece.piolet/posts/2696769603689794
UW student Payton Wade also posted her criticism of the video on Twitter. She said that the video showed that black students do not belong at UW.
In her post, Wade also said that she was asked to participate in the video with her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, and the group took hours to film but ended up not being featured in the video.
https://twitter.com/payton_renee_/status/1178581399756005376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1178581399756005376&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwkow.com%2Fnews%2F2019%2F09%2F30%2Fuw-madison-removes-homecoming-video-from-social-media-after-backlash%2F
Though the video was deleted, Wade screen recorded the video, which can be seen below.
https://twitter.com/payton_renee_/status/1178581825993793537