New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com - Syracuse University pulls 'kiss cam' after complaint about forced affection

Syracuse University is considering kissing its kiss cam goodbye after a fan suggested it sends the wrong message at a time when colleges are fighting against campus sexual violence.

A regular feature at sports venues, the kiss cam frames unsuspecting couples in a heart on the Jumbotron while the game crowd cheers for them to kiss. Hearts melted when cancer-stricken former President Jimmy Carter and wife Rosalynn obliged during an Atlanta Braves game last week.

But Steve Port of Manlius said what he saw during the Sept. 12 football game between Syracuse University and Wake Forest constituted unacceptable behavior, and maybe even assault, as men forcibly kissed women who were clearly saying no.

In one of two examples, he said a woman's head shake was met with "no less than six sets of hands from the seats around her shov(ing) her unwilling face into his." The crowd cheered, he wrote in a letter to the editor, which generated hundreds of comments on Syracuse.com, both agreeing and disagreeing with him.

"Honestly, I wasn't out to kill the kiss cam," Port said by phone Tuesday. "I was just out to raise an important issue that I saw happening and that's important to me. I've always kind of been a little put off by it anyway, but never witnessed an actual act of — oh, my God, this woman is saying no and it didn't matter."

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