‘Harambe’ in gorilla costume re-enacts dragging child at high school football game

Beloved gorilla Harambe died three months ago, killed at his home at the Cincinnati Zoo after a 3-year-old boy entered his enclosure.

But people won’t let Harambe rest in peace.

Last week the zoo shut down its Twitter accounts the day after it asked people to stop posting jokes and memes about Harambe.

The Washington Post noted how tweeting Harambe jokes at the zoo’s handle had become a virtual competitive sport.

“We are not amused by the memes, petitions and signs about Harambe,” Thane Maynard, Cincinnati Zoo director, said in an email to The Associated Press.

“Our zoo family is still healing, and the constant mention of Harambe makes moving forward more difficult for us. We are honoring Harambe by redoubling our gorilla conservation efforts and encouraging others to join us.”

But now, this.

A photo posted to Reddit and Imgur on Saturday, taken at a Cincinnati area high school football game, shows someone in a gorilla costume pretending to drag a child along the sidelines, just like Harambe dragged the 3-year-old boy.

“I live in Cincinnati. At my local high school football game a kid showed up in a gorilla suit and started dragging kids around,” the caption on the photo says.

Over the photo itself the user wrote three words: “Oh my God.”

The Cincinnati Enquirer identified the school as Harrison High, which played the East Central Trojans on Saturday. Harrison school officials did not immediately respond to the newspaper’s request for comment.

“Harambe” apparently showed up at a pep rally at an Illinois high school, too, in the form of students dressed as a gorilla and a banana, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

And at Sunday night’s game between the Kansas City Royals and Boston Red Sox, a fan wearing a “Harambe 69 jersey” jumped out of the stands and ran across the outfield to “honor” the dead gorilla.

This story was originally published August 30, 2016 at 10:29 AM with the headline "‘Harambe’ in gorilla costume re-enacts dragging child at high school football game."