U of Fla. castigated for dragging black students off stage. But new video tells a different story

The University of Florida faced incredible backlash after a video showed a white faculty member dragging several of the university's black graduates from the stage Saturday as they celebrated the  2018 commencement ceremony.

Newly surfaced videos, however, featuring white students may change the entire narrative of the story.

What's the background?

The developing social media outcry over viral video of the usher shoving black students off stage got so bad that the university's president, Kent Fuchs, issued a lengthy apology Sunday on Twitter.

He wrote, "During one of this weekend’s commencement ceremonies, we were inappropriately aggressive in rushing students across the stage. I personally apologize, and am reaching out to the students involved."

Fuchs added, "The practice has been halted for all future ceremonies, and we will work to make sure all graduating students know we are proud of their achievements and celebrate with them their graduation."

So what's the rub?

Here's the problem: Black students weren't the only students rushed, pushed, or manhandled off the stage, it would seem.

According to student testimony with supporting video, the usher apparently did not discriminate when it came to hurrying anyone off the stage if they were taking too long in walking.

Watch the video below to see the unidentified usher forcefully escort someone who appears to be a white girl from the stage.

The young female in the video was apparently not even dancing or strolling, but trying to take a selfie instead.

Upon further investigation, the graduate in the video was found to have shared her experience — and photo — on Twitter, writing, "I'm the girl who tried to take the selfie RIPPP @UF."

Twitter user Greg Tomlin — who is also a producer of "The Michael Medved Show" and radio host in his own right — created a compilation video from the graduation's full video.

The video shows the white male usher dragging many graduates off the stage who took too long in their celebrations, despite color. Tomlin shared the video on Twitter, and captioned it, "This is such a bogus viral story."

"I did my due diligence & watched the whole UF commencement ceremony. It's clear that the staff member removed any  person (black/white/brown) who lingered on the stage more than a half second," he added. "But, 'America is racist' continues to be news cycle gold."

He added, "Here is a collage I made, showing the staff member at UF dealing with students of all races who are showboating on stage. The more elaborate the celebration, the more firmly he deals with the students. This is not a case of racism, folks. Sorry."

Here is a collage I made, showing the staff member at UF dealing with students of all races who are showboating on stage. The more elaborate the celebration, the more firmly he deals with the students. This is not a case of racism, folks. Sorry. pic.twitter.com/BC0Alq9CpH

— Greg Tomlin (@TomlinMedia) May 7, 2018