Social media backlash from Troy students erupted when the host of “The Tonight Show,” Jimmy Fallon, said, “Duke vs. Troy. That sounds like a fight between two skinny white dudes. What’s Troy? That’s not a college. Who goes to Troy? No one goes to Troy. Duke wins.”
After Fallon shared his unpopular prediction, #igototroy began trending on Twitter and appeared everywhere on Facebook and Instagram.
I’m not sure why people got so offended and concerned over something a comedian said. Just being recognized on “The Tonight Show” is unique enough; how often is Troy mentioned on national television?
My issue with the hashtag trend is that it was a result of people being offended. If #igototroy was originally used in preparation to get everyone hyped up for our men’s and women’s basketball teams, then there would be no problem.
Getting upset over being teased, especially over a brief comment made by a comedian, shows weakness. The hashtag should be a result of positivity, pride and excitement for a game, rather than a backlash toward a harmless joke.
Matthew Knopps, a freshman accounting major from Pell City, was not offended by Fallon’s comments.
“Jimmy Fallon is a comedian, and that’s what he does,” Knopps said. “We need people like Jimmy Fallon to ask, ‘Who are you, and what do you do?’ ”
“Comedians say things sometimes that will hurt your feelings,” Knopps said. “I don’t think anyone should take it to heart.”
Knopps did not use the hashtag, but he appreciates the student body’s school pride toward the basketball games.
“I like the reaction people are giving,” Knopps said. “For the moment, it’s nice to see people fired up about something.”
Jacob Charles, a junior music education major from Pensacola, Florida, went to the women’s basketball game at Mississippi State as part of the pep band. Charles used the hashtag in a meme captioned, “You can’t have parking problems if your university doesn’t exist.”
“We live in a generation where people get offended by everything,” Charles said.
A video was recorded in front of the fountain on the quad inviting Jimmy Fallon to visit Troy University.
“It makes it look like 40 people go to Troy, and that we’re this little hick-town college in the middle of nowhere,” Charles said.
The video had one highlight. It mentioned three people whom we are extremely proud to have graduated from our university. Other than that, in my opinion, it was embarrassing.
Jimmy Fallon made a comment about our school because of a basketball game, and our video should have reflected how pumped we were about supporting our teams. The #igototroy movement should have been about our pride, not our spite.
Troy University makes me incredibly happy because I have an opportunity to attend a fantastic school in a great city.
I am in support of both basketball teams; our sports teams have been making incredible progress this year. But if Jimmy Fallon had said that Troy was going to beat Duke, or failed to mention us at all, I’m sure we would not have had the same amount of school spirit that amounted over the past few weeks.
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