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Probe Into Fetty Wap Video Shoot Faults School Principal
An investigation into how rapper Fetty Wap was allowed to record a music video that included drug references and a pole dancer in his old New Jersey high school has concluded that the school’s principal was solely responsible and should be disciplined, according to a published report.
Photo: Chris Pizzello / Invision / AP
Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala, Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, Calif.
Zatiti Moody was put on administrative leave in June after Paterson school officials began looking into the video filmed at Eastside High School.
District officials had a law firm investigate the matter, and NJ.com obtained a copy of the report through a public records request. The investigation was conducted by John E. Wallace Jr., of the firm Brown & Connery.
The investigation found that Moody didn’t follow all the requirements of the board’s policies and regulations. It recommends that the district’s superintendent impose “appropriate discipline.”
A telephone number for Moody could not be located. His lawyer declined to comment on the report.
The report also stated that Fetty Wap’s production company should have paid for using the facilities. The company gave $500 to the Eastside Booster Club, but not the school itself.
The video for the song “Wake Up” includes numerous drug references and features a scantily clad woman dancing on a pole inside a classroom. Numerous banners and posters seen in the video read, “Go Team Kush,” which references a strain of marijuana.
Toward the end of the video, a woman presumed to be a teacher takes an apple from her desk and uses it as a bong.
Some community leaders questioned why a video they said glamorizes negative behaviors was allowed to be filmed at the school. District officials have said they don’t endorse the content of the video, which was shot during non-instructional hours and didn’t include students.
The report states that Moody had talked with Fetty Wap’s manager following a concert in 2015, about the performer doing “positive things” at the school. Moody was later contacted by the production company and the manager about filming a video in the school.
Moody determined that filming the video would have educational value because the school had a video production class. He said he was unaware of the video’s contents ahead of time, according to the report.
Fetty Wap, whose real name is Willie Maxwell, has previously apologized to Moody and anyone who felt “disrespected.”