The University of Central Florida has apologized for a joke that unintentionally invoked the memory of the Kent State shooting that occurred during protests against the Vietnam War in 1970.
Central Florida was in the midst of a 56-6 thrashing of Kent State on Saturday when the UCF social media team posted a picture of their quarterback John Rhys Plumlee on the telephone with a caption that read, “SOMEONE CALL THE NATIONAL GUARD.”
The intent of the post was to hearken back to Shannon Sharpe’s famous 1996 sideline moment when he took a phone and told whoever was on the other end that the president and National Guard needed to be called because they were “killing the Patriots.” However, given that Kent State was the scene of an incident in 1970 when National Guard troops opened fire on a group of protesters killing four and injuring nine, the reference hit differently.
