A 17-year-old from Wall Township, New Jersey, is speaking out after he took a look at the yearbook and saw that the Trump T-shirt he wore on picture day was Photoshopped out.
Grant Berardo said he wore the shirt in his yearbook photo for Wall Township High School because he was too young to vote for President Donald Trump in the 2016 election, but he wanted to show his support.
This is what the shirt actually looks like.
"It was Photoshopped," Grant said in an interview with the Asbury Park Press. "I sent it to my mom and dad, just like, 'You won't believe this.' I was just overall disappointed. I like Trump, but it's history, too. Wearing that shirt memorializes the time."
Wall Schools Superintendent Cheryl Dyer said she is “quite disturbed by the entire situation.” The photo company, Jostens, did not comment. Whether a school employee or the photo company was responsible for the edit decision remains to be seen.
The school says political shirts are not a dress code violation.
The teen’s father, Joseph Berardo Jr., called it “censorship” and believes “it was probably politically motivated.”
The father wondered what kind of message this sends to someone interested in politics before they can vote.
“What are you doing? Don’t you go to school to debate this stuff – at the collegiate level, at the high school level,” he asked. “What’s frustrating to me is that this was the first election he took interest in, but what message did the school send?”
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