Video: Tennessee School Athletic Director Says 'Girls Pretty Much Ruin Everything,' Gets Suspended

The athletic director of a high school in Tennessee was placed on administrative leave after a video emerged of him telling students that "girls pretty much ruin everything."

Jared Hensley made the remarks during a video announcement on Wednesday morning, as he informed students at the Soddy-Daisy High School near Chattanooga that a ban on wearing athletic shorts would be implemented.

The video was posted to YouTube and then deleted, but the Chattanooga Time Free Press uploaded a copy to its own YouTube channel.

In the video, Hensley, who is the school's athletic director as well as the assistant principal, acknowledged boys would be unhappy with the rule and pinned its introduction on the female students.

"If you want to blame someone, blame the girls, because they pretty much ruin everything," he said. "They ruin the dress code, well—ask Adam. Look at Eve. That's really all you got to get to. You can go back to the beginning of time. So, it'll be like that for the rest of your life; get used to it, keep your mouth shut, suck it up and follow the rules."

The video sparked a fiery backlash against Hensley and the school acted swiftly by condemning his statement, before placing him on administrative leave.

"We have reviewed the video content," Hamilton County Superintendent Brian Johnson was quoted as saying by the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

"We find the comments about young women in this video inexcusable, as the sentiments expressed do not align with the values of Hamilton County Schools. The situation is under investigation, and this employee has been placed on administrative leave effective immediately."

Johnson said Hensley's comments were not in line with the school's policy nor did they comply with the expectation the institution sets for its employees.

"We hold our employees and our leaders to a high standard, and these comments do not match the high expectations we have for our employees," Johnson said. "We seek to prepare all children for success in life after high school and expect our employees to provide an atmosphere that will empower all children to reach their full potential."

Taylor Lyons, the co-founder of local activist group Chattanooga Moms for Social Justice, said the comments were particularly worrying given the current social climate. Over the last year, a number of high profile figures such as Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein and Brett Kavanaugh have been accused or found guilty of sexual assaults or harassment.

"I have no doubt that Mr. Hensley will claim he was joking," she was quoted as saying. "However, given the current social climate, his comments are insensitive at best and wildly inappropriate at worst.

"To suggest that 'girls are responsible for ruining everything since the beginning of time and will continue to do so' is completely unacceptable and he needs to apologize."