A teacher who went viral for letting students play in his hair has been fired. The teacher, who goes by JaQ Lee and @thilluminator on TikTok, was let go on Friday.
He went viral after he posted a TikTok video that showed teenage girls fixing his hair.
Lee faced backlash for allowing the girls to play in his hair during school hours. Many people said he was wrong for letting the girls violate the teacher-student boundaries.
But Lee defended himself, saying the students were helping him get ready for his next hair appointment.
“I didn’t have time to do it all by myself because it would’ve taken me forever, so naturally I asked about four or five of over 100 best friends to assist me in taking my hair out, and they all agreed,” Lee said.
Lee is a content creator on TikTok who often records himself in his classroom when he’s supposed to be teaching.
@thilluminatin1 Students don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Teaching is a work of heart. Comment your thoughts #teacher #teachersoftiktok #teacherproblems #millenialsoftiktok #middleschool ? Chopin Nocturne No.2 Op.9-2(1391533) – 314P
Not surprisingly, the students and their parents defended his inappropriate behavior. Among those also defending Lee are rapper Cardi B and educator Arnetta Murray.
In the video below, Ms. Murray appeared as a guest on Fox News’ “The Factor Uncensored”. She said Lee was simply “bonding” with his students. “He’s building a relationship.”
Lee told his followers that he obtained permission from the students’ parents to style his hair on camera.
But he has posted other questionable videos on his social media accounts. In another video, classmates bully a girl and call her “fat”.
After questioning the girl and telling her she has a big mouth, Lee says the bullying in his classroom is “none of my business.”
Here’s another one of him letting students fatphobic, filming it & then posting it on Tik tok pic.twitter.com/eBJigMzQ1K
— ?The Inflammatory Fat? (@blackfatqueer) May 10, 2024
Another video shows Lee admiring a female student’s assets. That video is still active on his Instagram page.
In a recent video since his termination, Lee cries while reading a text message from a 14-year-old girl who refers to him as her “bestie.”
@thilluminatin1 #teacher ? Sad and sad guitar(1102575) – syummacha
Men on a Manosphere message board had mixed reactions to the controversy.
One man wrote: “He’s probably living his second childhood trying to be the popular guy in the school.”
Other men said Lee’s behavior is problematic because high school girls are in that awkward phase between adolescence and womanhood.
“We are MEN. We react to physical touch and stimuli. We can’t help that even if we wanted to,” one man wrote.
Another man wrote:
“Folks think it’s all ‘cute and innocent’ that he’s giving these girls dap, but what’s really happening is he’s doing little things to make himself a peer of these girls to where in their mind he is ‘the homie’ instead of the teacher.”
He continued:
“Once they got the mindset of him being big homie, that’s when they start being comfortable and lowering their shields, which starts off with stuff like painting his nails and braiding his hair. He’s big homie, so they can confide in him and chat with him. Now that they are comfortable with touching him, if he decides to touch back, they won’t be creeped out because he isn’t the older teacher who needs to respect his boundaries.”
Other men wrote:
“Realistically, girls don’t play in the hair of dudes they find ugly All of that hair combing/braiding for free is a way for them to be around and get their hands on a dude they find attractive.”
“Just for the optics reasons alone, you don’t do this. He may not have any ill intentions, but you don’t set yourself up like this and as a parent, you don’t let this go on because someone who may have ill intentions is going to try to slip under this banner. Also, all that has to happen is he has a falling out with one of these girls because they are acting out in class and he goes to discipline her and she lobs an accusation at him.”
