The University student who has gained fame for a fast food tirade filmed on a cell phone at the University’s Outtakes grocery store is suffering humiliation she never anticipated.
Sara Reed, the general studies junior who is the focal point of a video called “Girl freaks out about pizza,” told The Daily Reveille that posting the video was mean and has unfairly damaged her reputation. She said her family has also suffered the consequences of the video.
The candid viral video has attracted more than 650,000 YouTube hits and national media attention. It has also garnered Reed the nickname “Pizza Girl.”
“My family and I have been verbally harassed with vicious remarks and unfounded accusations, and I have been followed several times by students trying to take pictures,” Reed said.
Though students have claimed Reed will transfer because of the chaos, she said she is exploring her options and no plans have been made.
“Words have a tremendous amount of power,” Reed said. “Don’t be so quick to judge someone when you don’t know them or their personal situation.”
Within two days, the video spread throughout the online student community and beyond, even landing a spot on Anderson Cooper’s “Ridiculist” Thursday night on CNN. Cooper paired the clip with other famous “fast food freak-outs.”
The video was also featured on Perez Hilton, Break.com, the Comedy Central website, 4chan.org and has warranted two “LSU Pizza girl” Facebook pages.
The footage shows Reed yelling at the Papa John’s employees about her late-night pizza order. Reed screams obscenities at the workers and reacts violently when bystanders begin to laugh.
Reed said the incident occurred about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday after she watched the workers incorrectly prepare pizzas.
“I noticed that they were putting the meat on first instead of putting the cheese on first,” she said.
When she tried to correct the process, Reed said the workers said she was wrong. She viewed their tone as an insult and retaliated as a result of “fatigue” and the “stress of finals.”
But Facebook rumors circulated saying there was more to Reed’s reaction than stress.
“I do have a disability, but do not feel it is necessary to share confidential details with the public,” Reed explained.
James Denhollem, kinesiology freshman, was one of the laughing bystanders, and said Reed singled him out and threw a bag of chips at him.
“Everybody was laughing,” Denhollem said. “I guess she just picked me to throw it at.”
Denhollem said he and his roommate went to Outtakes to get food from Taco Bell, and Reed had already started her “tirade” before they arrived.
“A lot of people are saying I was going to charge her,” Denhollem said. “I definitely was not going to fight the girl. My fists were clenched because I was mad.”
Neither Denhollem or Reed realized the argument was recorded until that afternoon. Reed said she was shocked when she found out the video was posted to YouTube from a Facebook friend.
“I don’t think it was that big of a thing being on CNN,” Denhollem said. “I don’t really care; I was just mad I didn’t know I was being recorded.”
But Reed said the CNN feature was humiliating.
“It has gotten way more attention than the incident warranted,” Reed said. “Obviously, I had nothing to do with the video being uploaded and going viral.”
 
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