Louisiana high school honor student's scholarship withdrawn after homecoming ‘twerking’ video surfaces
Kaylee Timonet, a senior at Walker High School in Walker, Louisiana, was also relieved of her duties as student government association president
WALKER, LOUISIANA: A Louisiana high school student with a 4.2 grade point average lost her student scholarship after a video of her "twerking" at a homecoming after-party was posted on social media.
Following the video's release, which was shot at the exclusive event at the Livingston Parish Country Club on September 30, Kaylee Timonet, a senior at Walker High School in Walker, Louisiana, was also relieved of her duties as student government association president, according to local news blog Unfiltered with Kiran.
Teen was reportedly 'twerking' at after-hours party
Kaylee was reportedly seen dancing behind a friend "twerking" in the deleted video from the after-hours party, in which Timonet's mother was also present.
According to the DJ who performed at the party, recorded it, and posted it online, the dancing was safe. DJ Savage said, "How those kids were dancing was not bad. I have seen much worse. It was genuinely kids having fun."
Timonet forced to watch the video by principal Jason St Pierre
Timonet was forced to watch the video by principal Jason St Pierre when she was called into the school's front office on Tuesday morning. The upset teen later described the incident to Unfiltered.
She said, "They basically told me I should be ashamed of myself and that they were concerned about my afterlife if I wasn't following basically God's ideals, which made me cry even more, I felt like my life was over."
St Pierre allegedly humiliated the star student in the meeting and informed her he was withdrawing her scholarship application. There are only two students awarded the scholarship each year.
Timonet said, 'All I was doing was having innocent fun'
Timonet said, "All I was doing was having innocent fun. I was mortified."
On Wednesday, her mother Rachel Timonet met separately with the principal after feeling excluded from the initial meeting with her young daughter.
The mother objected to the "unfair" punishment meted out to her teenage daughter. "They had other people dancing in that video also that are on the dance team that nothing happened to. He said she was punished because she is the 'hood-ornament' of the school."
Rachel Timonet criticized St Pierre for interrogating the teen
Additionally, Rachel Timonet criticized St Pierre for allegedly interrogating her daughter about her religious beliefs.
The angry parent told Unfiltered, "It's a public school, not a private school. He has no right to discuss any sort of religion with my child."
School community has sold T-shirts, 'Let the Girl Dance'
In support of Timonet, the school community has sold T-shirts with the slogans "Let the Girl Dance" and "I stand with Kaylee Timonet," which have also been shared on social media, as reported by New York Post.
She has been able to get past the embarrassing incident thanks in large part to the groundswell of support, according to Timonet.
"The video was not inappropriate whatsoever. I was just so afraid that people were going to hate me after that, so seeing that people were supporting me no matter what and seeing that my accomplishments were still noticed means the world," she said.
Small town Walker, Louisiana, is 22 miles from Baton Rouge and has a population of about 6,100.
