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Harvard group apologizes for Yale spoof video seen as insensitive

Print | Comments () Posted by Martin Finucane November 18, 2010 12:01 PM

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By Jeff Fish, Globe Correspondent

A Harvard comedy group has altered an online parody it created of a Yale recruiting video after concerns were raised about the video's treatment of a murder on the Yale campus last year.

The video entitled “Why did I choose Yale?” parodies a video made by the Yale admissions office entitled, “Why I chose Yale.” It depicts parents and prospective students asking an admissions officer about the university, according to a statement from the comedy group, On Harvard Time.

In the original video, one student asked "What happened to that girl that got murdered and stuffed in the wall?" a reference to the murder of Annie Le in September 2009. The admissions officer character brushed off the question.

“Our intention was to comment on Yale’s guarded treatment of their crime problems,” On Harvard Time said in a statement. “The line was not meant to make light of the incident or those involved, but rather to mock the university.”

The video sparked an outcry from members of the Yale community who were closely connected to the incident and felt that the video was in poor taste and “goes beyond parody,” according to the statement.

The Yale Daily News said in an editorial that Le's "death lingers in our campus’ collective consciousness. The fact that the video’s makers used this tragedy as part of an effort to boost Harvard pride before Saturday’s [Harvard-Yale] Game makes the reference all the more insensitive," the Yale Daily News said in an editorial.

“This was certainly not our intention in writing it, but we understand this response and sincerely apologize for any offense it may have caused,” said the statement. “The last thing we’d want to do is upset anyone personally connected to the incident.”

A new video posted by the group no longer contains the question. Instead, a prospective student says, "What happened to the original line in this video?"