Parody of Gangnam Style, āLifeguard Styleā gets 14Ā California Lifeguards Fired!
A group of red swimsuit-clad lifeguards thought they were having some innocent summer fun when they made a spoof video of a Korean pop singerās dance moves. Instead, all fourteen lifeguards were fired Wednesday.
In the YouTube video above, young lifeguards who worked at a city pool in El Monte, Calif. can be seen rubbing sunscreen on each other, dancing in synchronization and doing lots of hip thrusts (including underwater).
As countless other videos have done this summer, the videoātitled āLifeguard Styleāāis a spoof of singer PSY (Park Jae Sang)āsĀ āGangnam Styleā music video, released in July, in which he performs his signature āhorse-riding dance.ā His video is a viral sensation. But when the young California lifeguards mimicked the video move-by-move, their supervisors āsaid theĀ entire video was inappropriate and disgusting,ā Gabriel Gonzalez, a lifeguard supervisor who was terminated, told NBC.
But thatās not the official reason the city is giving for the 14 terminations. Instead, the city said in a statement that the group was fired for using city property, including the pool and their uniforms, for private use.
The lifeguards said they were off the clock when they shot the video and that they were just having fun.
āThe video was made just to haveĀ fun memories before we go back to college,ā one of the lifeguards, Juliet, told KTLA. āWe didnāt think it would offend anyone,ā she said.
āThe community is telling us, āWhatās wrong with the video?ā Iām still kind of confused by all of this. Iāve dedicated myself to that place,ā fired pool manager Gabriel Gonzalez, 23, told theĀ San Gabriel Valley Tribune.
Whatās worse is that thirteen of the fourteen were college studentsĀ using their income to pay for tuition and books, ABC reports. Their biggest concern is how this might affect their futures in college, graduate school and the job market.
āTo be blunt, this was my only job and my only source of income in terms of paying for books and contributing to my schooling. So as of right now I guess Iāll be back on the job hunt, and I donāt even know if Iām going to get any good recommendations now with this going on,ā fired lifeguard Michael Roa said.
āWe just felt it was really unfair andĀ not really grounds for termination,ā former lifeguard Alexander Huerta told CBS. āI thought maybe a write up or a suspension; not that I would be asked to leave,ā fired lifeguard Daniel Surmenian agreed.
The group has since started a Facebook page titled, āBring Back The El Monte Aquatic Center 14,ā which has 584 likes, and aĀ petition on Change.orgĀ to get their jobs back up, which has 465 signatures so far. They plan to bring the matter to the next city council meeting.
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