Florida brought back the previously-banned ‘Gator Bait’ chant for the first time since 2020 at the first college football of the 2026 season on Saturday. Two self-proclaimed “woke” fans were uncomfortable.
They were significantly out-numbered based on their video.
Those two women will be in the minority throughout the college football season. The chant is here to stay.
The ‘Gator Bait’ chant was banned in 2020.
Former University of Florida president Kent Fuchs announced in June 2020 that the Fightin’ Gator Marching Band would no longer play the musical cue that prompts fans to chant “GATOR BAIT” at college football games. The decision came amid a national reckoning on race that stemmed from the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
It was a common trope in the United States to depict Black children and infants as alligator bait during the 19th and 20th centuries. As a subtype of the pickaninny caricature, the images portrayed Black children as unlovable and easily disposable prey for predators. They were an expression of a dehumanizing attitude that downplayed the death and endangerment of Black people— or even advertised their death as desirable. They were widely published in magazines and newspapers.
Here are a few examples:
Because of this past, the term ‘gator bait’ can be considered a racial slur. There is a connotation.
As a result, Fuchs decided to ban the ‘Gator Bait’ chant from Florida sporting events during the peak of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement in 2020. The announcement was met with widespread disdain. Critics said the cheer was a tradition that was widely popularized by Stuart Bell, a Black student-athlete in the 1990s. Never was it performed with any racist intentions.
New Florida president Stuart Bell seems to agree…
‘Woke’ Florida fans are not thrilled with the college football tradition.
Bell took over as president at the University of Florida on July 1, 2026. He said in June that “traditions matter” and hinted at the return of the ‘Gator Bait’ chant because it is “meaningful to the Gator family.” The band practiced the accompanying tune during the week. Teaser clips were posted to social media.
Sure enough, the band played the queue during the first quarter on Saturday.
Gator Bait pic.twitter.com/CMDWpNaZbI
— kt (@Swampette94) September 6, 2026
The chant was welcomed with a raucous reception but not everybody was thrilled. Two women at the game who claim to be “your two wokest friends” posted their reaction in a video on TikTok. They were visibly uncomfortable during the return of the ‘Gator Bait’ chant.
It seems like Florida is going to move forward with the ‘Gator Bait’ chant for the first time in six years. Most of the crowd got involved. These two women, who likely were not alone in their opinions, did not join in on the chant. They are not thrilled.