Sports teams flood Ohio teacher’s TikTok with replies to cancel exam

LEBANON, Ohio (WCMH)– Sports teams from around the world helped make the holiday season a little brighter for a group of junior high students by getting their final exam canceled.

Josh Chasteen, a health teacher at Lebanon Junior High, posted a TikTok Tuesday that said: “I told my students I’ll cancel our last test if a pro sports team comments.”

The Detroit Lions, who are notoriously savvy at engaging on TikTok, were the first to comment within just a few hours of posting, Chasteen said.

“I was confident at least one pro team would comment,” he said.

After the Lions, dozens more showed up.

“Of course, my students were ecstatic,” he added. “But once some of the other big names like ESPN, the NFL, the Olympics, Xbox, and even Jake from State Farm commented, it was all the buzz around school.”

Prior to this viral video, which has 20 million views, 3.3 million likes, and 52 thousand shares as of Thursday afternoon, Chasteen had prior TikTok fame, but nothing compared to this.

“I make TikToks as a fun way to connect with my students. This is their world right now, so I just try to make content that isn’t too ‘cringey’ and they will enjoy,” Chasteen explained.

This has been a challenging year for both teachers and students, so I wanted to try and do something fun and give everyone a little break.

Josh Chasteen @mr_chasteen101
Health teacher, Lebanon Junior High

Adding: “I think most students are proud to have a “TikTok famous teacher. One student has even bought me a shirt that says ‘TikTok Famous,’ on it.”

Other companies also got in on the commenting frenzy. Pizza Hut commented, “This calls for a pizza party!”

Chasteen said the company will be following through with that by providing pizza for the whole Lebanon Junior High staff one day for lunch.