Teen's suit says coaches made him eat pizza despite religion

[Sherman A1]

CANTON, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio high school football player who says coaches forced him to eat a pizza covered with pepperoni grease in violation of his religious beliefs is suing his former district and the ousted coaches.

The former Canton McKinley High School athlete and his parents filed a federal civil rights suit this week seeking millions of dollars in damages and alleging violations of his religious freedom and constitutional rights.

The athlete says in the lawsuit that coaches were notified he doesn’t eat pork or pork residue as a member of the Hebrew Israelite religious faith, but that they ordered him to eat the pizza as punishment for missing an offseason workout — and indicated his spot on the team was at risk if he didn't.

The athlete says in the lawsuit that coaches were notified he doesn’t eat pork or pork residue as a member of the Hebrew Israelite religious faith, but that they ordered him to eat the pizza as punishment for missing an offseason workout — and indicated his spot on the team was at risk if he didn't.

https://krcgtv.com/news/nation-world/teens-suit-says-coaches-made-him-eat-pizza-despite-religion

[ProfessorGAC]

1. I Hope The Coaches...

...are included individually in the suit. The school district alone shouldn't be on the hook for the stupidity of these guys.

[multigraincracker]

2. Seemed to me, being an asshole

is a job requirement for being a football coach.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. Is this the same group as the Black Hebrew Israelites?

You remember them.

January 2019 Lincoln Memorial confrontation

With all the sects on TV, I can't keep them all straight.

https://www.google.com/search?q=hebrew+israelites&sitesearch=democraticunderground.com

[XanaDUer2]

5. I think they are

The have a group local in my city.

[madaboutharry]

4. The coaches should be fired.

What is wrong with people?

This is an example of why this world is such a difficult place to live; there are too many ignorant and disrespectful people who think it is ok to abuse the dignity of others.

[Beakybird]

6. The article says ousted coaches.

[madaboutharry]

9. I know.

I meant I agree they should have been fired. I didn’t word things the best way.

I also think the claim that he took the pepperoni off the pizza only undermines their argument. To me it shows he as trying to cope with the situation.

[Mosby]

7. Black Hebrew Israelites aren't Jewish, in fact most of them are racists

According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), "Some, but not all [Black Hebrew Israelites], are outspoken anti-Semites and racists."[16] As of December 2019, the Southern Poverty Law Center "lists 144 Black Hebrew Israelite organizations as black separatist hate groups because of their antisemitic and anti-white beliefs".[17] Former KKK Grand Wizard Tom Metzger once remarked to the Southern Poverty Law Center, "They're the black counterparts of us."[18]


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hebrew_Israelites

[alphafemale]

10. And that matters....how?

Please explain.

[Mosby]

12. Because BHI don't keep kosher in a Jewish sense

They cherry pick sections of the Jewish and Christain bibles.

Do they avoid shellfish? No. There is a clear prohibition of that in the torah.

They turned religion into racist cosplay.

[alphafemale]

14. So you get to decide if someone else's religious or moral claims are legitimate

That's pretty much what I thought you'd say.

Thanks.

[Mosby]

18. Your defending an antisemitic, black supremacist movement.

Figures.

[alphafemale]

21. Doubling down I see.

Expected that too.

[Mosby]

22. Maybe they should drop the Hebrew Israelites.

B3cauae they aren't either.

What do you think? Are they Israelites?

Are they the real Hebrews?

What the fuck.

[alphafemale]

24. Tripling down.

I can do this all day.

[Mosby]

27. Note you didn't answer a single question.

[alphafemale]

31. And four!

And I don't need to have a single recognition of your outrageous accusations about me.

Do you want to keep this up?

[Mosby]

40. Sure

He didn't have to eat the pizza, he could have left or eaten chicken nuggets. This is lawyers doing what lawyers do, you know the coaches are also suing the school for improper termination, by not following district policy.

[alphafemale]

43. Good backing down

You said his religion gave him no right to claim dietary restrictions.

[Mosby]

47. I didn't actually say that

But I can see how posters interpreted my comments in such a way. I thought the "lesson" the coach chose for this kid was wrong and Ill advised, but there were options for the kid.

Now it's going to be litigated.

[alphafemale]

50. Really?

"12. Because BHI don't keep kosher in a Jewish sense"

"30. It's not a religion. Its the black KKK."

[Mosby]

51. Yeah.

I have a strong visceral reaction to "religions" that try to co-opt Judaism. Black Israelites, moors, messianic "jews".

In some cases these beliefs become genocidal towards Jews.

https://apnews.com/article/religion-shootings-jersey-city-us-news-ap-top-news-9107f1204a15e4f5f67c8dcc9245f732


If he was Muslim I wouldn't have posted at all on this thread, in fact I assumed he was when I heard about this story last year or whatever.

I think the BHI are extremists who benefit from media coverage like this who end up normalizing their foundational racist, supremacist "theology". Are they protected by the 1st amendment? I guess, but all this coverage does is make these abhorrent views seem acceptable.

[BlackSkimmer]

45. We noticed. nt

[Bucky]

26. How bad of an American do you have to be before you start judging

the worthiness of other peoples' religions. What part of the First Amendment is beyond your intellectual grasp?

Forcing someone to deny the religion, and it doesn't matter if they're baptist, satanist, or worshipers of the flying spaghetti monster. As a principal I try to avoid extreme comparisons, but you have staked out this ground yourself. Attacking someone else because you don't like the religion is literally putting yourself on the same side of the fence as every anti-semite in history.

[Mosby]

30. It's not a religion. Its the black KKK.

[Bucky]

35. If they commit crimes, they should be prosecuted. That's got nothing to do with religion

If some people in a religion commit crimes, even if they commit those crimes in the name of their religion, you prosecute the crimes, not the religion. The crimes do nothing to erase anyone's First Amendment rights. Please tell me you're not that thick

You may ramp up your ad hominem assertions all you want. First they're not really Jewish. Now they're the KKK. The only thing I've ever seen or heard about this group is that they've got some unsubstantiated ideas about history and scripture. And they're a little socially awkward. But if you forced the child of a KKK member to eat something against their will, it's still criminal assault. And if it's against their beliefs, it's a hate crime--yes, even for religions you personally really really dislike.

How have you never processed the idea that First Amendment rights extended only to people you don't dislike is the exact opposite of the purpose of the First Amendment?

[Mosby]

41. Calling me a bad American and intellectually deficient

Is a clear personal attack.

[dawg]

42. No. She's defending religious freedom.

The Bill of Rights isn't just for groups that we like.

[Mosby]

44. He wasn't forced to eat pork.

He could have eaten something else or just walked away.

[dawg]

60. So you agree then, that it would be wrong to force him to do so?

Because that is the issue I thought we were discussing.

[edhopper]

15. I have many Jewish family and friends

that cherry pick keeping Kosher. So what? If that is their practice, and the Coaches knew, they were wrong.
No matter how Mushugana their religion is.

OTOH, I just read post #8

[Ms. Toad]

16. That would be relevant if the pizza contained shellfish.

Whether their religion matches with your understanding of the Torah isn't at issue. What is at issue is whether his understanding prohibits eating pork.

Christians pick and choose to, especially as to Leviticus. That doesn't mean they can be forced to violate the portions they choose to follow.

[Mosby]

20. Maybe they shouldn't call themselves hebrew israelites.

Because they aren't fucking hebrew or Israelites.

Is that OK with you that I object to that?

[Ms. Toad]

29. You can complain about it -

but it's not legally relevant.

I don't happen to think most of those who call themselves are following Christ's lead, either - and shouldn't be calling themselves Christian.

But that doesn't change their legal rights.

[Bucky]

36. ❤️💜💚

Perfectly said, Ms Toad.

First that came for the Flying Spaghetti Monster worshipers. But I couldn't strain myself to tolerate them, so I said nothing...

[edhopper]

54. All religions are farkakte

Can we do the Mormons and Hari Krishna next?
Save the Catholics, Muslims and Jews for last.

[karynnj]

46. Would the action bother you if the student were an observant Jew from a synagogue

You consider Jewish? For any minority religion, it is important that their rights be considered on something that does not negatively impact others. By the way, I think Moslems also avoid pork, but shellfish is OK with Halal. The fact that the Black Hebrews' practice does not come from the Torah is not really relevant.

Consider that the dominant religion in this country, Christianity, considers that the new Testament led to abandoning the laws of Kashrut. Would a Christian then be able to say that the Jewish kashrut is no longer valid for anyone including Jews?

In this case, this child followed his religion in not eating pork and the coaches created this disgusting punishment. If this were considered acceptable, what happens the next time when the kid is an Orthodox Jew? How do you defend the two cases as not the same?

[madaboutharry]

11. Two things can be true at the same time.

What the ADL states may be accurate, but at the same time it would be wrong to make a person eat food that violates their personal beliefs.

The truth of this incident will eventually be known.

[alphafemale]

23. You should never coerce a person who says they don't want to eat something for any reason

It doesn't matter if you don't like their belief or religion.

It doesn't matter if you think a kid is being forced to be a vegan by parents and tempt them with bacon.

It doesn't matter if you think they are lying about an allergy.

Nothing about what you think they should eat matters.

[Bucky]

28. Amen. Keep your laws off my tummy.

[madaboutharry]

33. Absolutely.

I think this is what this whole case is really about.

[meadowlander]

48. Yes exactly.

It's not even like eating pepperoni pizza was a requirement to be able to play football well. It's just macho bullying from "grown" men who've seen Full Metal Jacket too many times.

[Hekate]

58. TY for saying what I've been thinking as I read some really ridiculous, beside-the-point, posts

No K-12 teacher or coach should force a kid to eat something as punishment. It is abuse by an adult of a child. Period, end of story.

[moriah]

37. Still doesn't mean any kid should be forced to eat something as punishment.

When I was 7 a neighbor insisted on me eating (probably very good) oysters. I tried to politely decline, saying I was full from the side dishes (I wasn't, but that's what I'd learned was the polite way to turn down food, that you're too full from all the other yumminess).

That man took me outside and FORCED an oyster down my throat. It wasn't as punishment, but it's up to MY family to introduce me to shellfish, and I wasn't his kid. He took it upon himself to hold my mouth open and pour it down.

It, along with all his lovely wife's great side dishes, came up on his shoes.

[meadowlander]

49. Ugh, those people are the worst.

Also, as a side-note, people who won't take "I don't drink alcohol" for an answer. I can't even count the number of times I've gone to bars or parties and ordered soft drinks and had people comment "What's the matter, don't you drink?" or "It's fine, go ahead and have one" or started interrogating me about why I don't drink or insist on buying me a real drink. For the record, there is no possible answer to "why don't you drink?" that will ever be anyone else's business.

I even went to one Christmas party where the boss bought champagne for the team and one woman was going around pouring it in everyone's glasses and I told her quietly and politely "no, thanks it gives me migraines" and she grabbed the glass out of my hand, poured some anyway and handed it back to me saying "don't spoil it for the team". I just toasted with everyone else, excused myself and poured it down the bathroom sink.

Where do people even get the idea that anything that someone else chooses to ingest or not ingest is any of their business?

It's all just power games for people who get off on that kind of thing.

[moriah]

53. "No, thank you though!" should always suffice.

I have an extremely complicated relationship w/ alcohol -- never had a problem with it myself, but have seen what it's done to so many other people, and knew from a very early age that I was high-risk for developing a problem if I didn't set strict limits. When I was younger I was always happy to be the designated driver -- though after 3 trips of me being the DD one of them usually volunteered.

Now that I'm older, I only drink on New Year's Eve, pretty much -- a bottle of bubbly if I'm alone (mixed with OJ for hydration), and the only time I allow myself TO drink alone.

But there are SO many reasons why someone might not want booze. Or oysters. Or whatever.

And it's nobody's damn business why you or I might pass on alcohol, though I have come up with many excuses -- "Not a beer fan, but enjoy it". "Red wine gives me headaches, though I'm sure it's delicious", "Oh you like drier white wines, huh? I'm more a Riesling girl, more for you though!"

And we shouldn't have to do that "politeness dance" and still end up with what we specifically rejected being forced on us.

[Sympthsical]

8. Probably be good to give the other side equal time

I know four paragraph rule, but a lot of people will not have bothered with reading the entire article. From the same link:

The coaches say the player chose to remove pepperoni and eat the pizza rather than an alternative food. They weren’t aware it violated his religious beliefs, according to a defamation case they filed previously against the teen's father, his attorney and school officials.

An attorney representing most of the coaches, Peter Pattakos, told The Repository newspaper of Canton that they have statements from over a dozen eyewitnesses that indicate the family's allegations are false.

Considering the coaches are suing for defamation, I wonder if that's an indication of their confidence in being vindicated.

Is this a case of kid did something, parents found out, claims he was forced to as to avoid trouble?

I'd want to hear from those witnesses cited.

[edhopper]

17. Thanks for posting that

I will postpone judgement.

[Bucky]

32. Thanks for covering the other side of the accusation.

Maybe the coaches were operating in ignorance.

And clearly we aren't getting all sides of the story from the OP

But the poster up thread who is rationalizing the alleged abuse based on the "legitimacy" of the kids' religion is still as dead wrong as anyone can be on this topic

[Sympthsical]

38. Oh absolutely

If there was a forced/intentional violation of religious freedom, there should be punishments handed down. Doesn't matter if we like the religion.

But I'm not at all sold that we know for certain what happened here. There are two very vigorous sides to it. I'm content to let the suits settle it.

[Mosby]

39. He chose to eat the pizza.

The coaches have previously said the May 24 punishment was an attempt to rescue a troubled player whose off-the-field behavior was negatively influencing his teammates and jeopardizing his future as a Division I college athlete.

The coaches also have said the player had the ability to leave at any time and had the option of selecting an alternative food that did not contain pork. They say the player chose to pick off the pepperoni and eat the pizza.

He (the now fired coach) emphasized that the player had the ability to leave at any time and had the option of selecting an alternative food that did not contain pork.

“This young man wasn’t forced to eat anything,” Pattakos said. “He was asked to accept this form of a lesson. He wasn’t forced to eat pork. He was offered chicken (nuggets) and (told), ‘You can sit here and eat. If not, then you can leave.’ That’s the lesson.”

We asked the district to postpone their decision for at least one more week to allow for this matter to be fully and fairly investigated, including upon full consideration of the testimony of the numerous Canton McKinley football players who witnessed this event and were at tonight's board meeting wanting to tell anyone who would listen that the story being advanced by the alleged victim's father and attorney is not true. For inexplicable reasons, the board denied this basic request and refused to listen to these young men, reflecting that the district's leadership is not interested in the truth of this matter, and is instead motivated by something else.

The fired coaches are suing the school district. They failed to follow their own policies.

[Crunchy Frog]

59. That's just plain wierd. Why would you give someone pizza as a punishment?

[kentuck]

13. He heard some kid in Covington got rich by suing CNN...

And saw an opportunity?

[Tickle]

25. This story is very old

or it happened again. I remember this many years ago same thing that I just read.

makes me go hmmm

[Celerity]

62. not that old, it happened on May 24, 2021

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/02/us/marcus-wattley-canton-ohio-mckinley.html

A high school football coach in Canton, Ohio, and seven assistant coaches have been suspended after punishing a 17-year-old for missing a voluntary practice by forcing him to eat pork against his religious beliefs, according to a lawyer representing the boy’s family.

The Canton City School District took action against the coaches at McKinley Senior High School after conducting an initial investigation, according to a statement on Wednesday by Jeff Talbert, the district’s superintendent. It also filed a report about the matter with the Canton Police Department, which is investigating it as a potential hazing episode.

On the last day of classes, May 24, four days after he had missed an optional practice session, the 17-year-old, a rising senior, was forced to eat an entire pepperoni pizza, even though the head coach, Marcus Wattley, and the other coaches knew that he did not eat pork because he was a Hebrew Israelite, according to his family’s lawyer, Ed Gilbert. He said that the boy’s family intended to sue the school district.

School district officials were not available for comment on Wednesday, but in a statement released in the afternoon, Mr. Talbert said, “The investigation found that the identified coaches engaged in actions that constituted inappropriate, demeaning, and divisive behavior in a misguided attempt to instill discipline in the student-athletes.”

[jmowreader]

34. Black Hebrew Israelite is a growing sovereign citizen group

It’s basically “Moorish Nationals” that don’t throw Allah’s name around.

[maxsolomon]

55. You get to be a religious nut in America. The nation was founded by religious nuts.

School District is going to have to settle.

Fun fact: I have a HS classmate who is a Black Israelite! I can barely remember her real name now. It was Tamika, but she goes by Yehdiya.

[GoodRaisin]

56. Nobody should be made to eat anything.

Period. But, some people just don’t get it.