Fetty Wap Sends Flowers After Yearbook Lyric Leads To Leave
fetty wap’s team sent flowers to Trout Creek Academy principal Katie O’Connell after she was placed on administrative leave over a yearbook lyric attributed to her. The move landed after the yearbook was distributed this spring and after the district opened an investigation into allegations of inappropriate conduct.
Katie O’Connell and the yearbook proof
O’Connell said the lyric, “Everybody hatin’, we just call them fans though,” was not in the final proof she signed off on. “That quote was not in there,” she said, adding, “And when we were done proofreading it, we said, ‘go ahead and send it. It’s good. Like, we’re done. Like sign, seal, deliver that yearbook.’”
She also said, “So the fact that when they arrived at the school, that quote was in there and on the front page and attributed to Mrs. O'Connell, which would never be me.” That is the dispute now sitting at the center of the leave decision, with O’Connell saying she was sent home after publication and told her contract would not be renewed for next year.
Jack Webb on the edits
Jack Webb said, “It was distributed in an inappropriate manner prematurely.” He said a student made additional edits after O’Connell’s final approval and that a page containing the lyric was added without her knowledge.
That sequence matters because it shifts the fight from a simple attribution mistake to a process dispute over who had control of the yearbook after sign-off. O’Connell has worked in the St. Johns County School District for more than 20 years, and her legal team plans to seek a court order requiring the school board to hold a hearing.
Flowers, fundraising, and next steps
O’Connell described the rapper’s messages of support as “nice,” and supporters have already contributed to a GoFundMe that had raised more than $3,000 for legal expenses. The school board declined to comment, citing pending litigation.
For O’Connell, the practical stakes are immediate: a long district career, a published yearbook already in circulation this spring, and a legal process that now appears to be moving into court rather than staying inside the school system.
