Florida Gators ban ‘Gator Bait’ cheer due to ‘historic racist imagery with phrase’

Jason Dill
·2 min read

University of Florida president Kent Fuchs announced Thursday the school’s “Gator Bait” cheer will no longer be allowed at sporting events due to the “historic racist imagery associated with the phrase.”

According to ESPN, “the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at Ferris State University said African-American babies were used as alligator bait,” and “the term ‘alligator bait’ was also used as a racial slur against African-Americans.”

The Undefeated cited several news articles detailing the racial imagery of the term in a 2016 article, too.

At another game, University of Florida fans do the Gator chomp as the Fightin’ Gator Marching Band marches past during a pre-game block party.
At another game, University of Florida fans do the Gator chomp as the Fightin’ Gator Marching Band marches past during a pre-game block party.

The “Gator Bait” cheer featured fans doing the Gator chomp with their arms as a way to taunt the opposition, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“While I know of no evidence of racism associated with our ‘Gator Bait’ cheer at UF sporting events, there is horrific historic racist imagery associated with the phrase,” Fuchs said in a statement. “Accordingly, University Athletics and the Gator Band will discontinue the use of the cheer.”

The move isn’t the only one Fuchs and the school are planning as universities and businesses have looked at social injustices and sought reform against racism.

“Removing any monuments or namings that Florida can control that celebrate the Confederacy or its leaders,” Fuchs said, is another planned move.

According to the Gainesville Sun, the “Gator Bait” phrase started following the program’s national championship in 1996 when former Gator Lawrence Wright led the cheer, “If you ain’t a Gator, you must be Gator bait!”

“I’m not going for it,” Wright told The Gainesville Sun. “I created something for us. It’s a college football thing. It’s not a racist thing, It’s about us, the Gator Nation. And I’m black.

“What about our history as the Gator Nation? We took a program from the top five to No. 1 in the country. I think I’ve done enough, put in the sweat and tears, to get to offer my opinion about something like this.”

Steve Spurrier, who won the Heisman Trophy at UF and later won the national title as head coach in 1996, told the Gainseville Sun he “didn’t know there was anything racial about it,” but then said, “Let’s get rid of it,” after athletic director Scott Stricklin told him about the history behind the term.