‘Fart Gate’? Firing Olathe teacher-comedian for crude TikTok video was plain silly | Opinion
Here’s a subject I never thought I’d touch on in a column: “Fart Gate.”
But here we are.
A video by that name is the creation of Stephen Taylor, a former history teacher in Olathe Public Schools. He is also a local comedian with a wealth of experience of the scene here.
In September, those two worlds collided. As a result, Taylor no longer works in the district.
What did Taylor do to lose his job?
According to Taylor, he was let go for violating the district’s social media policy. More specifically, he posted a series of comedic videos last month on social media app TikTok. In one, Taylor jokes of lying to students who annoy him and uses crude language to deliver a punchline about flatulence.
Taylor’s videos are hilarious.
“I crop dust them all the time,” Taylor said on video. “I save up big milky lactose intolerant farts. And I drop bombs silently because I’m an adult and I know my body. And then I just let it stew.”
“Crop dust” is another phrase I never thought I’d write. I cackled as I researched the definition.
It’s a slang term used to describe “intentionally farting as you walk past a group of people,” according to Urban Dictionary. The act “usually involves long, silent farts that are released amongst unsuspecting victims,” the website states.
Poor kids, I thought.
Classroom video shows no students
Olathe school district officials weren’t amused by Taylor’s antics. He shot the videos inside a classroom on district property. No students were included in the skits, but thank you notes from students could be seen in the background of one video, Taylor said.
District officials used that lack of discretion to send Taylor packing, he said. He later blurred out the background in the original video and agreed to take down the others but was fired anyway.
In an ironic twist of fate, Taylor ended said joke with this missive: “They can’t fire me because they need me too badly.”
Well, they did.
I reached out to Olathe school officials for comment. In an email, a district spokesperson wrote: “We are unable to comment on specific personnel matters due to privacy laws. All Olathe Public Schools employees agree to follow and abide by the policies adopted by our Board of Education.”
I spoke with Taylor recently. He’s doing OK for himself, he told me. This year was his third as an educator in Olathe schools. Teaching was a side hustle for him. On the day he was fired, Taylor signed with an agent, he said. He has about 30 gigs lined up between now and January, he said.
“Now I can actually make money to do comedy,” Taylor told me.
I had to know: Did Taylor intentionally drop stink bombs in the classroom? Would he lie to young people that work his nerves?
“Of course not,” he told me last week. “These are obvious jokes.”
Not funny
The circumstances behind Taylor’s dismissal were pretty ridiculous. He chronicles the fallout in a series of TikTok videos Taylor labeled “Fart Gate.”
On Sept. 7, the Olathe Public Schools Board of Education approved a recommendation to terminate Taylor. He chose not to appeal the ruling.
“I don’t want to give any more energy to this than I need to,” Taylor said. Good for him.
“I don’t want to go through court battles and show up in a suit on a Tuesday,” he said. “I want to do comedy and make fun of them and change policy for future teachers. I hope they aren’t treated holier than priests.”
I second that. Teachers are human beings. They should be allowed to express themselves without fear of being fired.
Should educators joke about lying to students in the classroom? Probably not. But wisecracks on social media should not be a fireable offense, either.
In Olathe schools, distasteful banter online could get you called into the principal’s office
And that’s just plain silly.
This story was originally published October 10, 2023 at 5:02 AM.
