University of Florida No Longer Allows Gator Bait Cheer

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Published on June 19 2020 5:59 am
Last Updated on June 19 2020 5:59 am

University of Florida president Kent Fuchs announced Thursday that the school will no longer allow the "Gator Bait" cheer at sports events, saying, “While I know of no evidence of racism associated with our ‘Gator Bait’ cheer . . . there is horrific historic racist imagery associated with the phrase.”

When the school band plays the tune for the cheer, fans make a chomping motion with their arms and shout "Gator Bait!" ESPN cited the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia as saying African American babies were used as alligator bait, citing newspaper articles and imagery from the late 1800s and early 1900s, and the term was also used as a racial slur against African Americans.