Oswego High School yearbook headline stirs controversy

A song lyric used as a headline for the Oswego High School competitive cheerleading team’s page in the 2017-18 school yearbook has sparked a social media controversy.

The lyric in question, “No one ugly allowed,” comes from the song “Fashionista” by artist Jimmy James.

According to the yearbook article, the song was chosen by the team coaches to pump the squad up before performances and competitions. The article goes on to explain that the meaning was “inspirational” for the girls.

“It means that it’s time for us to be beautiful inside and out, both off and on that mat,” a student is quoted as saying in the article.

However, many on social media are finding the lyric insensitive as a headline.

“I’m speechless. Think about the girls who didn’t make the cheer team, this could really hurt them,” OHS alumnus Natalie Grimm wrote. “I just think it could have been a different quote from the song. That could really be taken the wrong way.”

The song, whose chorus repeats, “Fashionista, how do you look?” uses the lyric in the verse, “Everybody line up/The show is about to start/Places, the show is about to start/You have to show a look, have a look, or give a look/Faces, beautiful/No one ugly allowed/Hahahaha.”

In a statement posted to the school’s Facebook page, Principal Mike Wayne acknowledged and apologized for the controversy, writing, “The headline of the article is inappropriate and should have been recognized and removed during the editing process. While the headline quotes a line in a song, and was not intended to come across offensive, it has, and we sincerely apologize.”

“Moving forward,” Wayne wrote, “the administration of Oswego High School is committed to working with our yearbook adviser and students to review the yearbook content more closely, and with a more sensitive eye.”