Jordan Steffy made national headlines earlier this month when two videos of him standing up to a homophobic school bully made the rounds on social media.
After being called a “f*ggot” nearly every day since the seventh grade, the out junior from Laporte High School in La Porte, Indiana was forced to take matters into his own hands when teachers refused to help.
Two different clips show Steffy fighting back against his bully and have racked up tens of million views combined in less than two weeks.
Jordan’s rainbow slap ?pic.twitter.com/rOwkEc0Lze
— Zander Doyle (@zandoyle_) November 10, 2019
This week, Steffy sat down with Tamron Hall to talk about what happened that day.
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He explained that the altercation started over something the other student posted on Snapchat. It was a photo of Steffy along with the caption, “I still hate gays.”
“That hit me like, I don’t even know who this is,” Steffy said after seeing the post. “I just didn’t even know what to do.”
He continued: “I had walked into the class and I had the post right on my phone because I was going to ask him why he posted it. And I walked to his desk, I met him there, and I showed him, ‘What is this?’”
When Steffy expressed his angry over the photo, the bully called him a “f*ggot” and asked “What are you gonna do about it?” That’s when things escalated, leading the two videos that have since gone viral.
When Hall asked Steffy if getting physical with the bully was about just that one particular bully, or if it was the result of an accumulation of homophobic abuse he suffered over time, he replied, “Years. It was years and years, over and built up.”
Steffy’s mother, Angie, later added, “I’m tired of it. I’m tired of him going through that. I’m happy he stood up for himself. I’m not happy he was cussing like that. I don’t like him hitting.”
Since the videos have gone viral, the tables have turned and Steffy’s bully has become the victim of online bullying. Steffy concluded the interview with Hall by asking people to stop harassing the kid, saying he just wants the negativity to end and to move on from the situation.
Related: Gay teen fights back against school bully as teachers do nothing in viral video
Hussain-TheCanadian
What a classy well spoken young man, filled with love, compassion, and an amazing strength of patience and forgiveness.
Stay strong jordan, it gets better.
Rio50
Nice words. I endorse each one of them.
Chrisk
He’s such a cute kid.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
This kid is awesome!
He showed what a repugnant noxious coward puke that bully is. He cowered like a little girl when Jordan gave him the beatdown that resonated across the internets…
And then when people started bullying the bully Jordan posted a plea to stop. I give him credit doubt I could find it in my heart to do so.
This who the smcubag right wing fanatics obsess over saying Gay kids don’t need protections? Jordan has more class, courage, and integrity in his pinky than the entire right wing Evangelical nutbag puke population in this country….
sonic_source
I do NOT condone violence…usually. However, in this circumstance, it seems the kid had no alternative, especially since the worthless “adults” refused to step in and help.
Some people don’t respond to logic and reason; the only thing that gets through to them is a good old fashioned ass-whoopin’.
Milehighman66
After seeing this video clip online (I think it was twitter I saw it on), I honestly had to say, “Right on, Jordan!” Enough is enough and sooner or later we all will snap, tired and fed up with the bullies, slanderers, hateful people we have all fought against.
Now, I am not condoning than a physical altercation is the way to cure this problem, but sometimes it is the ONLY WAY some people take notice! I am proud Jordan stood up for himself and what he believes. Maybe a few other haters will get the message and begin straightening (no pone intended) out their thinking and the way they treat others.
Cam
And of course the school does the typical cop out and gave the gay kid a much harsher punishment because he hit the other kid. If the school had taken care of the bullying years earlier this would have never happened.
Brian
Did anything happen to the teacher who was clearly just watching the fight instead of immediately stopping it?
spacecadet
I don’t know the answer to your particular question but a lot of school districts in recent years, in order to avoid legal liability, do not allow their employees to get into any kind of physical altercation with students, even breaking them up. It’s on the law enforcement/security officials who break up the fights.
Brian
Except he finally stepped in, at least verbally, when it became clear that the bully was about to get the shit beat out of him. He should have done that immediately.
Bob LaBlah
Three years from now Jordan will be on Sean Cody while the bully will be reduced to Sketchy Sex. Next.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Wow! Way to show support to a kid who symbolically stands up for hundreds of thousands of Gay kids tortured by bullies through out history,…
Cam
Wow, the cynical account that always bitches about “The gay community” has something negative to say. #Bitterness
MISTERJETT
he’s my hero
Itsonlythetruth
The teacher should be reprimanded for just watching it escalate. Wonder if Jordan was getting his ass kicked if teacher would have even stepped in.
LamarTrotsky
Indiana. The Mississippi of the Midwest. Ku Klux Klan still busy in parts of the state. Mike Pence. Dreadful state.
Gandalf The Grey
It was a punch to the face not a limp-wristed slap as the title of this article would have you believe!
Terrycloth
The rest of the class sits there and does nothing ? Thank god it was a flying fist than a gun and flying bullets. It could have gone the other way.school shootings often happen because the abuse from bullies or a rejection from another girl /boy.. This bully stood there and basically didn’t fight back..he had it coming…maybe he will learn ..next time it might be worse.