A clip of a teacher hugging a student from behind is going viral on TikTok for all the wrong reasons and people are disgusted.
Nothing on the internet is ever truly deleted. Somewhere, someone in the world has made a backup of whatever's been posted and there's always a chance that it will come back to haunt the original poster. While there are plenty of arguments to be made about how this phenomenon is unjustly used to malign folks who may have said things as a knee-jerk reaction when they were still teenagers, there are also cases of people who've done some shady things that probably should be called out, like this TikTok video of a teacher hugging a student from behind.
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TikTokers were shocked by this clip of a teacher hugging a student.
In the video, teenagers can be seen recording a video where they're flipping off the camera and dancing. You know, standard TikTok stuff, then, an older teacher comes up behind a female student and then hugs her. She seems shocked by the move, not knowing how to react.
What's more is that in the video after the hug, the teacher realizes that he was being recorded and his demeanor entirely changes as he approaches the camera and seems to question whether or not he was captured on film hugging the female student from behind.
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The video has been making the rounds on Twitter, but received a surge in infamy thanks to TikToker @jimmyofficialbackup who uploaded the clip alongside his own personal commentary. Tons of folks remarked on the inappropriate nature of the hug and expressed how badly they felt for the young woman who seemed to freeze after the older man grabbed her.
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While the exact date of the video clip isn't known, it's believed to have been taken anywhere from two to three years ago, judging by the comments left from people who re-watched it.
She looks so uncomfortable smh. Then someone said “teachers can’t hug students these days” 😒. Dude no teacher (male or female) should be hugging AND HOLDING a student from the back wtf.
— Gabby (@SimplyGabby__) September 9, 2021Article continues below advertisement
Lmao exactly, a side hug or one of them church hugs is good enough😭 I mean unless you have a close relationship (parent/child) then maybe y’all will hug tighter but NEVER from the back tf😭
— Last Night I Had A Dream That (@itsya_mainebtch) September 9, 2021Some users are asking that the girl in the clip step forward and comment on what happened, others just wanted to make sure that she was OK and hoped that the hug was the extent of her interactions with the teacher in the video.
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Who is the teacher that's hugging the student in the viral TikTok video?
Some commenters on Twitter and TikTok indicated that they know who the teacher is. They stated that he was a substitute who is still being hired by schools in the area.
While there are a large number of states that require background checks and certifications for substitute teachers, the specific laws vary from state to state.
As per the Magoosh blog, 17 states require substitute teacher certification, and nine necessitate either a Bachelor's degree or a specific number of college course credits to become substitutes.
However, there are also a whopping 24 states where folks can work as substitute teachers without any type of credentials at all.
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It does appear that regardless of what state someone is living in, substitutes are at least required to have attained a High School diploma and/or GED, and they must undergo a legal background check.
So if this teacher did have a prior history of complaints from students and/or parents for untoward behavior, then there's a good chance that it would have surfaced in their background check before they were hired.
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