KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (WATE) – A mother of a former high school cheerleader in Knoxville, Tennessee said her daughter was wrongly kicked off this year’s team based on videos posted on social media.
“I know the video wasn’t very suitable for the cheer team, but I wasn’t wearing a uniform or anything,” said Te’shauria Akinleye, who said she recently got out of the cheer for the dance videos she shared -Team of the Hardin Valley Academy was thrown on their social media platforms.
“The cheer coach sent Te’shauria a message saying, ‘Hey, this isn’t a Hardin Valley cheerleader or a Hardin Valley cheerleader, delete them,'” said Te’shauria’s mother, Toksy Akinleye. She also said that she approves any video her daughter posts.
Both mother and daughter said they felt that the dance videos posted afterwards had been modified to make them more appropriate. “The first TikTok was a full body and that’s the one they asked to delete, the following ones she posted cut her waist up,” explained Toksy.
After that, they felt like it was game over. “I got a call from the trainer and the trainer assistant and it started with, ‘Hey, we had this video we asked Te’shauria to delete and we know she deleted it, but she has been since that time. .. had three subsequent videos that are sexually inappropriate or explicit, “explained Toksy Akileye of the phone call she had on Thursday, August 12, 2021, just days after the first full-body video was posted.
“There are certain movements she makes in these videos that we told the girls they can’t do,” Toksy said of what else she was told during the call. She said she and her daughter both didn’t know what those movements were.
Toksy said her daughter was kicked out of the squad on the phone call.
Toksy said she requested to meet school officials during that call. Then, a few hours later, she said a DCS agent and two deputies from the Knox County Sheriff had shown up on her driveway. “I was like, ‘Did someone call you about the videos?’ and she said, ‘Yeah, you know what we came for,’ ”said Toksy.
Part of a letter from DCS reads: “DCS and law enforcement (LE-Knoxville Sheriff’s Office) have both investigated and found the sexual abuse allegation of your daughter Te’shauria Akinleye, which included posting / selling inappropriate videos of your child Allegations are unfounded. “The case has been closed.
Toksy said she felt that her daughter and the whole family were being treated unfairly because of her race.
“I think it’s because she’s Black to be honest,” she said. “If you look at some of the videos and compare her body and dancing to some of the other girls and their bodies and dancing, she has more body than her.”
Toksy also said that there are Hardin Valley cheerleaders who are white who have posted similar videos and are still holding their seats on the team. She said she sent several emails to school officials comparing these dances side by side.
Ultimately, she said it was her house and her rules. “As a cheer coach, you can’t tell me that you are in control of my child in my household if that’s not my time,” she said.
Te’shauria misses her teammates. “The teammates, they were like my family,” she said.
Te’shauria said she felt that more communication could have avoided the entire situation. “I would have known what to prevent or what to prevent in the videos, but I didn’t get this message so I didn’t know what I was doing wrong,” she said.
Te’shauria mentioned during her interview with Nexstars WATE that she was kicked out of her final cheerleading team New Year at Bearden High School. “I got into a little drama over there, it was my fault that I got kicked off the cheer team,” she said. “I don’t blame anyone.”
A Knox County Schools spokesman said they were reviewing the situation.
Toksy Akinleye is now hiring a lawyer. She also turned to the ACLU.
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