A teenage cheerleader was kicked off the New England Patriots' squad after pictures of her crouched over an apparently unconscious man surfaced on Internet.
In two pictures, Caitlin Davis is shown brandishing a Sharpie over a man whose skin is covered in drawings and graffiti, among them two swastikas and the words "Im[sic] Jew."(The images are posted at left, with explicit language intact. Discretion is advised.)
“She is no longer with the squad,” Pats spokesman Stacey James told the Boston Herald yesterday.
Davis' story fits an arc –– moving from obscurity to Internet infamy in a matter of hours –– that Americans are increasingly familiar with.
In April, an upbeat Davis told a local paper that she wanted to join team owner Bob Kraft's organization because, "in addition to spreading a good image for the Patriots, you do some good things for others." Weeks later, she became the youngest cheerleader ever to make an NFL squad.
When the pictures -- originally posted to Facebook but then spreading across the internet –– became public on Tuesday, the Patriots were quick to react.
News of the firing was particularly unsurprising given that Kraft is a major benefactor for multiple Jewish causes.
U.S. & World
To be fair, there is no proof that Davis wrote or drew any of the offending bits of graffiti on the man in the picture, but the scandalous story has brought her career with New England to an end.