Girls Gone Wild goes to Virginia Tech
And the Blackburg community isn’t happy about it:
With “Girls Gone Wild” a week away from its scheduled trip to Blacksburg, the town is receiving national attention as opposition to the event grows on Virginia Tech’s campus and in the Blacksburg community.
Blacksburg Mayor Ron Rordam said Thursday that he’s “disgusted” by “Girls Gone Wild” — a video franchise that has gained fame for filming women stripping and performing sexual acts during spring break and at parties. Rordam said the town would do everything it could to make it as difficult as possible for the group to make its scheduled appearance in town April 20.
“They’re really not welcome,” Rordam said. “This is not something we want in Blacksburg.”
A petition asking the Blacksburg restaurant Oge-Chi’s to reconsider plans to host the event had collected more than 700 signatures by Thursday. The petition includes an example of a bar owner in Ohio who pleaded guilty to charges of selling alcohol to a minor after hosting a “Girls Gone Wild” visit. The petition also threatens to “bring this matter before the Montgaomery County Alcoholic Beverage Commission,” if Oge-Chi’s hosts the event.
“Maintaining a ‘noisy, lewd, disorderly or unsanitary establishment’ is grounds for which the board may suspend or revoke licenses,” the petition reads.
Christine Smith, assistant director for counseling and advocacy at Tech’s women’s center, said Thursday that she couldn’t keep up with the e-mails and phone calls from people opposed to “Girls Gone Wild” coming to Blacksburg.
“I’ve been overwhelmed with the response; it’s been amazing,” she said.
NBC’s “Today” show interviewed Tech officials Thursday for a news story scheduled to air today on “Girls Gone Wild” founder Joe Francis.
Francis, 34, was indicted Wednesday on charges that his companies claimed more than $20 million in false business expenses, which followed his being jailed on criminal contempt charges Tuesday in Florida. He was charged Thursday with bribing a jail guard for a bottle of water and having prescription sleeping pills in his cell, authorities said.
Smith said Womanspace, a student group at Tech, is planning a protest of the event. She said she has also spoken with the town and police department and they’ve been supportive while acknowledging there are limits to what they can do.
Jerry Smith, executive director of operations for Oge-Chi’s, said Thursday that officials with Chiamaka Entertainment Inc., which owns the restaurant, still had no comment. The group could release a statement today, he said, after a scheduled meeting between Chiamaka officials and the Blacksburg Police Department about the event.
Students have used Facebook.com, a popular online networking site primarily for college students, to form a group called “Hokies Against Girls Gone Wild.” Since starting early this week, membership of the group has swelled to more than 700.
Multiple Virginia Tech groups in favor of “Girls Gone Wild” or against protesting their appearance in Blacksburg have also formed. Total membership of those groups was less than 100 Thursday afternoon.
Interestingly, when Playboy came to campus when I was there, there was a little bit of dissent, but nothing like this. Indeed, the student newspaper even had a reporter “infiltrate” the process and came away saying that it was pretty classy, all things considered.
And what the hell kind of name is is “Oge-Chi?” In my day, we had good, sensible bar names, like Ton 80 and the Hokie House and PJ Macadoos …
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