Teen with full ride to 20 colleges requests public apology from Fox affiliate

A teen accepted to 20 colleges offering him full financial aid wants journalists at a Fox affiliate to apologize for calling his decision to apply to the schools “obnoxious.”

An anchor and contributor on Fox 5 in Washington, D.C., criticized Micheal Brown’s decision to apply to 20 colleges in a segment airing April 3.

Co-anchor Holly Morris and contributor Sarah Fraser called applying to that amount of schools “ridiculous.”

“It’s a little ridiculous that this kid applied to 20 taking away a spot and basically waitlisting another kid,” Fraser said on the show.

“I think it’s a little obnoxious because you can only go to one,” Morris commented. “You can only take one full ride and you are taking a spot from someone else who worked really hard.”

Two days later, Micheal said he had a “respectful” interview with Morris, but he will not allow the segment to air until the station issues a public apology. “Where’s the #humandecency?” he tweeted.

Micheal’s mother Berthinia Rutledge-Brown told USA TODAY that Morris never apologized and instead said “I didn’t mean to offend you.” They didn’t receive an apology from the station either, she said. Fox 5 did not immediately return a request for comment from USA TODAY.

Rutledge-Brown said her son was truly hurt by the comments and she’s “numb” over the situation.

Fraser said she has since told Micheal she’s sorry for the comments. She has also apologized to his mother.

“I have apologized to Micheal and he accepted my apology,” Fraser said on Twitter. “Micheal’s accomplishments aren’t up for debate. I have learned a valuable lesson.”

Micheal, a black student who grew up in a poor area of Houston, defied odds with a 4.68 GPA at Lamar High School. Last week, a widely-shared video showed his enthusiastic reaction to being accepted into his dream school: Stanford University. He got a full ride. Spoiler: There was jumping. There was screaming. It was pure joy for all involved — including his mom.

It didn’t stop there. Brown was accepted into and received full financial aid for 19 other colleges, including more Ivy League schools: Harvard University, Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, Northwestern University, Georgetown University, Vanderbilt University, Johns Hopkins University, Pomona College, Claremont McKenna College, Williams College, University of Texas-Austin, University of California-Berkeley, Amherst, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Tulane University, University of Michigan, UC-Davis and UC-Irvine.

Rutledge-Brown said her son is currently deciding between Georgetown, Stanford, Harvard and Yale. He plans to announce his decision April 30.