Student’s graduation “ruined” after father rushes to stage and shoves superintendent

Father shoves superintendentTV43 Baraboo

A high school graduation was completely “ruined” after a father rushed on stage and shoved a superintendent away from his daughter.

Graduations are often a source of drama and viral moments, however, a new video circulating across the internet has revealed how one student had their big day “ruined” by their father.

When one Wisconsin student got up on stage to accept her Baraboo High School diploma, things took a turn after her father, Matthew Eddy, stormed onto the graduation stage and shoved a superintendent out of the way. 

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Eddy did so before his daughter was able to shake the superintendent’s hand, with later reports revealing he was heard saying, “That’s my daughter, I don’t want her touching him.”

The father was then escorted off stage by security at the event, with the audience booing him as he was taken away.

Matthew Eddy’s daughter can be seen visibly upset by the interruption, looking around in complete shock and disbelief.

Following the now-viral incident, Eddy was issued with a criminal citation for disorderly conduct, and the superintendent who was shoved on stage, Rainey Briggs, issued a restraining order against him.

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The School District of Baraboo School Board spoke out about the occurrence, stating, “This adult felt emboldened to behave in this way in front of hundreds of students and other adults should deeply trouble us all; this type of behavior will not be tolerated.”

The footage of the clip, which has been circulating across multiple platforms on social media, has been largely filled with comments from people slamming the father for his actions. Some even claimed his actions were fuelled by racism.

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One X user stated, “This girl’s graduation ceremony was ruined by her father because he didn’t want her to shake hands with a Black administrator. Why did it take so long for all of the other white folks to jump in? Racism is violent, racism is humiliating, and racism is destructive.”

Another added, “I did not see one person on that stage afterwards [sic] come to the Superintendent’s aide to see if he was ok. Not one. That says an awful lot.”

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