The story surrounding a Tennessee grade school student’s suspension continues to unravel.
Jelly Roll and his wife, influencer and podcast host Bunnie Xo, recently came to the defense of a little girl who was allegedly suspended after she drew a picture of the celebrity couple for an “inspirational” school project.
The student’s mother put out her side of the story on social media, and the news quickly picked up on it, and eventually the situation got the attention of Bunnie and the “Need A Favor” singer.
They decided to help out the young girl and her family by taking the picture the kid had drawn for the project and putting them on t-shirts. That was shortly after Bunnie posted this message on her Facebook page:
“Y’all I need your help. There is a little girl who did a project on J & I.. she picked us because of all we’ve been through & our resilience. For the project she drew a picture of us, THE SCHOOL SUSPENDED HER because of how she drew me! She’s in middle school!
How dare they shame a child like this. Please help me find her parents & her, J & I have something we want to do for them. She lives in Tennessee.”
That “something we want to do for them” ended up being the t-shirt sales, with the proceeds going to benefit the little girl. And while they were set be available online for 24 hours, the shirts ended up selling out in less than an hour (and crashed the t-shirt selling website).
From the very beginning, the school district accused of the suspension has continually stated that the viral story is a “completely false rumor about a student being punished for a drawing at school.” They even went as far to release a statement saying that they’ve tried to contact the parent who made the accusations, and they have not responded to Rutherford County Schools:
“We have identified the parent we believe is responsible for starting the original, completely false rumor about a student being punished for a drawing at school.
We have reached out to the parent directly but she has not returned our call, nor has she ever contacted the district or the school about any concerns with discipline.”
And according to an update that Bunnie posted on her Facebook page, she actually made the decision to cut the sale of the shirt short after the accusations and hate that was being spread against the mother:
“I cut the sale short yesterday after an hour because a lot of the things were coming forward about the mom. Tons of accusations with zero documentation. I too have toxic family so none of what they’ve said has moved me in anyway.
And everything the mom has said about the school has been backed by numerous other parents. But being a whistleblower for that school was never my intention. It’s always been about this little girl having a voice.”
It’s a strange time we live in. But shoutout to Bunnie Xo and Jelly Roll for simply trying to do the right thing this entire time, and handling the unfolding of the story with grace.
