Florida Teacher Sings 'Monkey' Birthday Song To Black Child

Group of children with colored hands. — Source: BugTiger / Getty

Look, there are white people across the nation who work in professional environments who get downright insulted at the mere suggestion that they might benefit from some diversity training. And yet, they keep proving, time and time again, that they are, at worst, racist, and, at best, desperately in need of an education on what is and isn’t appropriate to say and do in the company of Black people.

For example, there is absolutely no reason why, in 2025, a white teacher should need to be told that singing a song to a Black student that calls said Black student a “monkey” is an obvious no-no, whether they actually meant it in a malicious way or not, and yet here we are…

The above TikTok video shows a white teacher at a Florida elementary school helping a Black child celebrate his birthday by leading the class in singing him the classic “Happy Birthday” song before singing him a different song of her choosing.

To be fair, the teacher can be heard asking the child if he would like her to sing the “funny song” after the class sang the standard birthday song, and he did nod his head “yes,” but he likely didn’t know what was coming, nor did he laugh after the “funny song” came.

“Happy birthday to you. You live in the zoo. You look like a monkey, and you smell like one too,” she sang.

I — I beg your finest Caucasian pardon?

Now, listen: we don’t know what is in this woman’s heart. Perhaps she didn’t just look at this Black child who had just turned 6 years old and thought, “Nah, I gotta call this kid a monkey real quick!” Maybe she thought this Black child and his classmates, some of whom were also Black, would just find it to be silly and fun and respond with laughter instead of being visibly uncomfortable with it. (Especially, the Black kids. Peep that one boy’s expression sitting behind the birthday boy on the right.) I mean, here at NewsOne, we have reported on the caucasified shenanigans of a lot of white teachers — including white teachers who have compared Black students to monkeys — who should never have had access to Black children because they were blatantly racist. Well, this might not be that, but it’s something.

The person who first shared the video identified herself as the boy’s mother, saying in the caption: “I’m sharing this so people understand what my son experienced in his classroom. A birthday should be celebrated with kindness, not racial jokes from an adult in a position of authority.”

People in the comments were having none of it either.

“None of the kids knew nothing about this song, so you obviously not singing it to them,” one person wrote. “The little boy looked at her so uncomfortable… And as a teacher, you need to be something, maybe fired.”

“We all know why she sung that song to the black kid,” another user commented.

Some commenters also defended the teacher, noting that it’s an old birthday rhyme that has even been featured in children’s movies like Madagascar.

OK, but this white woman sang it to a Black child, not a cartoon zebra. (Come to think of it, that zebra was voiced by Chris Rock, who is notably Black, and, well…You know what? Never mind.)

Regardless of the teacher’s intentions, singing this song to a Black student was dumb, inappropriate, and, at the very least, tone-deaf.

Anyway, Polk County Public Schools addressed the situation on social media.

“PCPS has been made aware of a video of a teacher singing to an elementary school student and his classmates,” the statement posted to Facebook read. “This is now being reviewed by district staff and our HR department. We understand and share the concerns about the teacher’s actions and judgment. As a public school system, we serve students and families of all cultures and backgrounds; we expect our employees to always keep that in mind as they interact with others.”

If you’re going to have Black children in your care, you just have to know Black people and how to behave around us better than this.

I mean, come on, man, even the actual monkeys in Madagascar were offended.

Teacher Not Fired For Calling Black Student N-Word

Teacher Who Spewed N-Word On Video Not Fired

Florida Elementary School Teacher Sings ‘Monkey’ Birthday Song To Black Student In Viral TikTok Video was originally published on newsone.com