A Florida high school graduate flipped into viral infamy when he crashed into a classmate in the middle of a celebratory backflip, shocking a packed arena of family and friends.
Senior Gavin Robinson wanted to create a moment for the crowd to remember at South Plantation High School’s commencement at the Rick Case Arena at Nova Southeastern University on June 1.
The 17-year-old stopped in the middle of the stage and performed his stunt, but came crashing down on fellow graduate identified as Amelia.
“When I took off into the air and felt myself hit my classmate, I thought, ‘Oh this can’t be happening,’” Robinson told People.
The onstage disaster played out moments after Amelia’s name was called and the excited graduate moved swiftly up the platform, waving to the crowd.
She reached up to fix her cap as Robinson was flipping around and the two classmates crashed into each other.
The force of the collision caused the two graduates to fall down to the shock of the other students and school officials.
The 17-year-old believed a backflip was a unique celebration to perform on stage in front of the massive crowd and that it would be remembered by the thousands in attendance.
The two classmates had met only two days earlier during rehearsal, where Robinson revealed his plan to Amelia about his backflip attempt.
The disaster was captured on video and later posted to TikTok by Amelia. It quickly went viral, where it has been viewed over 3.7 million times in three days.
Amelia didn’t sustain any serious injuries and took the blame for the viral moment, saying that she was distracted from remembering Robinson’s warning.
“Hi guys! im all good and not hurt, he did tell me beforehand I just got distracted,” she wrote in the comments. “Please dont send him any hate!!”
The two laughed off the incident after returning to their seats, no with their diploma in hand.
“After, when we went to go sit down, we were laughing about it together. Immediately after, one of my friends was laughing about it in a group chat, and he was the first to post it,” Robinson said.
The teen was surprised at the response to the video, not expecting the 10-second clip to go viral.
“I didn’t think anything of it at first — I just assumed it was gonna flop — and three hours later, it went viral,” he said.
Robinson says he has received harsh comments about his stunt, but he stands by the flip as it stood out from others at his graduation.
“Looking back, I 1,000% still stand on doing the backflip because I personally think this is just as good an outcome, if not better, than if I hadn’t done it,” he told People. “And not to blame her, of course it’s equally my fault, but if she didn’t run forward I would’ve landed it.”
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