Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Wrestler Chris Jericho shares video of niece being brutally attacked by bullies to demand action from schools

‘Despite my [family’s] pleas, nobody did anything to help’

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
Tuesday 24 May 2022 15:12 BST
Comments
Wrestler Chris Jericho shares video of niece being bullied

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Wrestling great Chris Jericho has shared a video of his niece being “incessantly bullied” by fellow students and called out school authorities in Florida for not taking action.

The video that the All Elite Wrestling star shared on Twitter on Sunday has garnered over half a million views. It shows a young girl lying on the ground and struggling as she gets punched and kicked, while a dozen onlookers surround her.

“Hey Hillsborough Schools – My niece has been incessantly bullied at Mulrennan Middle School for months. Despite my families [family’s] pleas, nobody did anything to help… and this was the result a few days ago,” Jericho wrote.

Several social media users condemned the incident and extended support to the wrestler’s family.

“This is horrible,” wrote Canadian television presenter Renee Paquette.

MMA artist Terrance McKinney suggested that they call up the parents of the girl assaulting Jericho’s niece.

“Wish I was closer to offer some support. I hate a bully, and it usually starts at home. Time to call up them parents,” he said.

The Florida governor’s press secretary Christina Pushaw, when asked about government agencies that deal with school bullying, said: “This is terrible! The school district is tagged in this post, and I think this person did the right thing by escalating to them. At the state level, the agency that oversees public education is the Florida department of education.”

School principal Tamara Brooks said on Monday that there is “much more to this story”, according to Newsweek.

However, she refused to elaborate on the matter citing student privacy laws. Ms Brooks added that the administrators “immediately acted” to break up the fight and discipline those involved.

“The administrators at this school and all district schools do not tolerate disrespectful behaviour between students, threatening language, physical altercations, encouragement of conflict through social media or any other behaviours that put the emotional and physical well-being of students at risk,” Ms Brooks said.

“As far as any previous incidents, if administrators are not alerted to negative behaviour between students, they cannot proactively work to resolve conflict. We always encourage our students to report any incidents on- or off-campus to a trusted adult at school or to their parents,” she added.

However, Jericho alleged that messages sent to the school principal complaining about the bullying were left unanswered.

“I have screen shots of messages sent to the principal by my niece’s older sister on 6 May asking for help with ‘some girls who are messing with my sister…I know who they are & need to talk to u about them’,” he wrote.

“Those messages were left unanswered. Wanna see them?” he added, addressing Hillsborough Schools.

WWE wrestler Chris Jericho walks on stage during the 1st Annual Video Game Awards
WWE wrestler Chris Jericho walks on stage during the 1st Annual Video Game Awards (Getty Images)

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in