In the aftermath of his controversial video, “Wake Up” video, Fetty Wap apologized to the school board in his hometown of Paterson, New Jersey for the visuals that were shot in the high school.
“I really didn’t think it was gonna be what it was,” he said before the Paterson school board of education Wednesday night (June 15), an hour before the board meeting started. “I just wanted to come back home. For me to go out to Eastside High School, that’s just the last thing that was me, the last thing that documented Willie Maxwell before he was Fetty Wap was Eastside High School, so that’s why I wanted to do my single because I wanted to tell people how I felt, where I came from.”
The visuals for the song included references to marijuana and a scene where a scantily clad woman dances on a pole in a classroom. Many were outraged that the city would allow their school to be used to promote drugs and strippers. Eastside High’s principal Zatiti Moody was later suspended and put on paid leave for allowing the video to be shot at the school.
Fetty also apologized to Moody and says that the official has made significant changes to the school since he attended Eastside. He went on to issue an apology to the people of Paterson, saying he did not intend to disrespect his hometown.
“If I disrespected anybody, I came today to apologize,” he says, “but I also wanted to let people know that I’m a product of my environment, so I just showed where I’m from.”
Moody joined Eastside in 2009 after graduating from the school in 1993. Many showed solidarity for the principal at the board meeting. According to News 12 New Jersey, students are hoping he can be reinstated to hand out diplomas at graduation, which is scheduled for June 23.
View Fetty Wap’s controversial video below:
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