Principal Apologizes for 'All the Black People' Comment

Georgia high school principal's apology hasn't ended controversy.

ByABC News
May 11, 2015, 2:50 AM

— -- A high school principal from Georgia has come under fire for comments she made at the end of the school's graduation ceremony that many in the audience found to be racially insensitive.

Nancy Gordeuk, the principal and founder of TNT Academy in Stone Mountain, Georgia, has apologized, but that hasn't quieted the controversy.

At the graduation ceremony Friday, Gordeuk accidentally skipped the valedictorian's speech, and when the crowd started to leave the church where the ceremony was being held, she tried to regain their attention.

"Y'all are the rudest people I've ever seen not to listen to this speech," she said.

Video of the event shows the crowd appearing to grow increasingly disgruntled, and as people continue to leave Gordeuk raises her voice.

"Look who's leaving," she says. "All the black people."

Gordeuk's remarks angered the audience, many describing it as a racist outburst.

"She named only black people," said Brooklyn Jacobs, who was there for the graduation ceremony. "She didn't say, 'Oh look at the Caucasians leaving, look at the Indians leaving,' she said blacks."

The principal has since apologized, insisting she was angry people were not paying proper attention.

"It was not a statement of racism," she said. "It was just my frustration, and you know when I said it, I told my husband it felt like the devil was in the house 'cause it didn't even sound like me."