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Investigation determines no crimes committed from Utah teen blackface viral video

Teenage boys wearing blackface and prison outfits on Halloween
Fox 13 News

After a viral video taken on Halloween night showed teens wearing blackface and prison outfits in a Walmart store, an investigation was launched to determine whether they committed a crime.

The investigation, conducted by the Iron County School District and Cedar City police, showed that no crime was committed by any of the seven teenagers involved in the video. The Cedar City Attorney and the office of the Iron County Attorney also reviewed the case according to police. The video in question was quickly shared to social media resulting in millions of views across several platforms.

Police say that, after interviewing multiple subjects and collecting several videos and other pieces of evidence, every party involved agreed that there wasn’t any evidence of a crime and thus, no prosecution was needed. However, the Cedar City Police Department says that it condemns the actions of those in the video and called it both inappropriate and insensitive.

The students shown in the video wearing blackface were believed to be students from the Iron County School District but after the investigation, it was revealed through a public statement that the teens had no affiliation with the district. But while the prominent teens in the video had no affiliation with the district, other individuals in the video did, and the district says that appropriate action has been taken with those particular students.

Jared Gereau is pursuing a Journalism major with an emphasis in Social Media at Utah State University. He is planning on using his experience to pursue a career with USU Athletics sometime after he graduates. In his free time, Jared enjoys watching movies, playing games and creating content for his YouTube channel.