WATCH: Freshman goes viral after drowning out racist homophobe with trombone
Trump supporter tried to spread hate on USC's campus, but was drowned out by Trey Hogan's trombone
A freshman student at the University of South Carolina has gone viral after using his trombone to drown out a racist, anti-LGBTQ protester on the college’s campus.
The Trump supporter, dressed in a MAGA hat, held a sign saying “BLM [Black Lives Matter] are racist thugs” and used a megaphone to yell racist and anti-LGBTQ comments at students on the USC campus, WLTX reports.
Freshman Trey Hogan, a member of the school band, responded by grabbing his trombone and loudly playing any time the protester tried to start another bigoted rant.
“ I was kind of hesitant at first, but then everyone supported it,” Hogan said. “He was saying some pretty hateful stuff, and I just didn’t agree with any of it.”
His fellow students — most of whom seemed to be wearing masks, while the protester was not — laughed and cheered as Hogan played.
Many also captured the amusing back and forth and shared clips on social media, where they quickly wracked up hundreds of thousands of views and countless positive comments for Hogan’s response to the man’s slurs.
Our students were not here to play today 😌 pic.twitter.com/aN5U8N4vTg
— sawyer (@saw__your) August 21, 2020
“I didn’t really expect so many people to react the way they did but it feels really good,” he said, adding, “It shows that we support everyone here. It’s just not okay, and we don’t want that on this campus.”
Bob Caslen, president of the University of South Carolina, responded positively to Hogan’s actions on Twitter.
“The demonstrator on Greene St. today may have a constitutional right to be there & say what he wants, but his words do not reflect the values & principles of our university,” Caslen tweeted. “I applaud our
@UofSC students who peacefully voiced their opposition to the hate he was spewing.”
After Hogan’s response went viral, hate preachers descended on the campus, with students accusing them of being unmasked and yelling racist and homophobic comments, including allegedly calling one LGBTQ student a “faggot.”
Caslen urged students to continue responding peacefully to the protesters.
“Students, I share your frustration with demonstrators who take advantage of our public campus to agitate our community,” he tweeted.
“Hold fast to our Gamecock values; if you respond, do so peacefully,” he continued. “Our commitment to each other & to the values we hold as Gamecocks will always win the day.”
Hogan, meanwhile, responded to the protesters by increasing the number of trombones he brought with which to drown them out:
Trombone guy was ready for them though ✊🏼 pic.twitter.com/UAliebuc5M
— sawyer (@saw__your) August 26, 2020
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