Photo of Desarae Prather, Legend Whitaker
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A Florida mom is speaking out after a teacher called her son a “monkey” in front of his classmates.

Desarae Prather said a teacher sang a “racist” version of “Happy Birthday” to her son, Legend, who recently turned 6.

The incident happened on Sept. 29 at Floral Avenue Elementary School in Bartow, Florida.

After leading the kindergarten students in the traditional version of the song, the teacher asked him if he wanted to hear the “funny version” of the birthday song.

Then the teacher sang, “Happy birthday to you. You live in the zoo. You look like a monkey, and you smell like one too.”

The teacher, who is not seen in the video, sent a copy of the video to Prather who uploaded it to Instagram and TikTok, where it went viral.

Now Prather is speaking out.

“My son was humiliated in front of his peers,” she told The Ledger. “No child should have to go to school and feel like they’re being called racial slurs.”

Prather said her son is “too upset” to return to school.

However, other parents defended the teacher, saying she sings the same version to other children in her class.

Prather said she had never heard the other version of the “Happy Birthday” song.

A school official said the popular teacher is being harassed and receiving death threats.

“I feel like she should own up to her actions,” Prather said. “I feel like she should write an apology to my son and my family, because it was unacceptable, and my son is going to be traumatized for life. This is going worldwide, and I feel as if she should get fired, because that’s unacceptable.”

Prather said she had not heard from anyone in the school district as of Tuesday.

Prather made headlines in 2014 when she “went missing” from her Lakeland, Florida home at age 15.