It doesn’t appear as through Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell will be allowed to take a Wisconsin fan of his and the team’s that he made a bet with on Twitter to her prom.
According to Annysa Johnson of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Bell is more than welcome to attend the grand march and photo sessions ahead of the Waukesha West High School prom, but will be barred from the dance itself because he’s too old and was once arrested for possession of marijuana and driving under the influence.
According to the recent report, Waukesha School District spokeswoman Terry Schuster ruled that Bell could attend the public events with 17-year-old Steelers’ fan Ava Tarantino, but also indicated that school district policy bars any guests from the dance “who have been involved in drug, alcohol or violent criminal incidents” in addition to anyone who is older than 19.
“We have to be equitable in the way we treat our students,” Schuster said. “We don’t even know if this is a real commitment.”
Bell made a bet with Tarantino on Twitter last week that she couldn’t get her prom invitation tweet retweeted 600 times. It didn’t take her very long at all for her to win that bet and the Steelers running back quickly agreed to attend the prom with her after losing.
Since the bet payoff was finalized, Bell has reportedly told Tarantino he intends to bring his mother and girlfriend to the prom as well with the latter agreeing to do the young lady’s makeup.
While Tarantino’s father understands Schuster’s ruling on his daughter’s potential date, he hopes something can ultimately be worked out with the school and that’s he’s filed the appropriate request.
“I think, in this case, he’s a celebrity. He’s not her date,” Jim Tarantino said per Johnson’s report. “And I think the fact that he’s agreed to do this and to bring his family, speaks very highly of who he is as a person.”
It will be interesting to see how this ultimately works out and hopefully Bell will still be able to take part in the prom in some capacity, or at the very least, the activities leading up to it.
Bell recently underwent surgery to repair a core muscle that he injured during the Steelers playoff run. The former second round draft pick is expected to sign a long-term extension with the Steelers by July 15 after receiving the franchise tag ahead of the start of the 2017 league year.
