University of South Carolina Freshman, Trey Hogan, has just become everyone's favorite student. And by "everyone" we don't just mean his fellow U of SC students, we mean pretty much all of internet as well.
Recently, Trey found himself on campus at the same time as an anti-BLM rally that local sources say was essentially one angry guy with a sign. The speaker accused Black Lives Matter demonstrators and supporters of being racist.
As you can see, the speaker and his sign drew some attention.
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The speaker used his megaphone to shout racist and inflammatory things at students. According to local news outlets, the speaker also enjoyed yelling insults, slurs, and homophobic ideas into his megaphone; because apparently neither Black lives nor LGBT+ lives matter to this man.
U of SC students had no problems confronting the man. Even before Trey showed up, the crowd was visibly and audibly expressing their disagreement with the anti-BLM protester and his hate-filled speech.
Early in the video you can see a brave young Black woman has positioned herself directly in front of the speaker, lowered her mask, and is addressing the crowd to counter the speakers message. It's hard to be heard over a shouting White man with a megaphone and enormous sign, but she wasn't about to let him spew hate unchallenged.
We do not know her name, but if anyone does, we would love to know so that she can be properly credited for her role in making this anti-BLM protester know he is not welcome. In the video, we see Trey standing towards the back of the gathered crowd, watching the speaker and young woman go back and forth.
He explained what happened next:
"I just had the idea to drown his sound out with mine, so I got my trombone and… I was kind of hesitant at first, but then everyone supported it. He was saying some pretty hateful stuff, and I just didn't agree with any of it."
After having had enough of the speakers hate-filled message, Trey picked up his trombone and played every time the man tried to speak - effectively drowning out his racism. While many in his position would have played a little song, Trey went straight for comedic almost elephantine sounds which, honestly, just made the whole thing that much more awkward and hilarious.
Note how as soon as people move closer to him, Trey lifts his mask. He managed to play his instrument loudly enough to drown out a racist with a megaphone through a mask.
Once Trey started, the young Black woman moved to join the crowd in cheering him on, but maintained her position directly in front of the speaker. She, along with the rest of the crowd, cheered danced and chanted - using their celebration and encouragement to hit the mute button on hatred.
And honestly, Twitter loved the moment just as much as the U of SC students did.
So yeah, support the arts in schools so we can have more Treys to make comedy elephant fart noises at racists.
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