A Pennsylvania high school is receiving backlash after a graduate was denied her diploma for dancing on stage.
According to USA Today, the incident occurred on June 9, during the Philadelphia High School for Girls graduation ceremony. A now-viral video showed 17-year-old Hafsah Abdur-Rahman shimmy across the commencement stage to receive her certificate, prompting some laughs and applaus from the audience. However, the school principal, Lisa Mesi, was clearly unamused, as she refused to hand Hafsah her diploma.
The outlet reports that the school warned students that their families had to remain silent when they walked on stage, which meant cheering and clapping were both prohibited until the end of the ceremony.
“She stole that moment from me. I will never get that again,” Hafsah said about her principal’s actions. “I understood the rules, so I was telling in the video, I’m like, ‘Sshhh. Do not say nothing because I want my diploma.’ I knew and understood what we were supposed to do.”
Although the teen reportedly received her diploma after the ceremony, she said the incident left her in tears and completely humiliated.
“If they thought that I shouldn’t do ‘The Griddy’ across the stage and do the Girls’ High traditions, nobody should have been able to wave or blow kisses or do period signs,” she explained, “because I feel like that’s the same thing. I feel like that’s unfair.”
Mesi has not publicly responded to the backlash, but the Philadelphia School District has since issued an apology over the incident.
“The District does not condone the withholding of earned diplomas based on family members cheering for their graduates,” it wrote. “We apologize to all the families and graduates who were impacted and are further looking into this matter to avoid it happening in the future.”
