While numerous videos of rejoicing Americans spread throughout the online community in the hours after the news of Osama bin Laden’s death, one video in particular went viral on Monday for its rousing celebratory display.
On Tuesday, however, that video was nowhere to be found.
At the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis (USNA), Maryland – the country’s second oldest service academy — a massive crowd of midshipmen gathered in front of the home of their Commandant, Captain Robert E. Clark II.
Clark addressed the young crowed, yelling things like, “You can hit us, you can knock us down, but we are going to get up, and when we do we are going to find you and kick your ass!” He was greeted with loud cheers and applause.
At another point, he led the crowd in the Naval Academy’s “I Believe” cheer, tweaking the words to “I believe we have won.”
The raucous celebration may have been due to the fact that it was a team of Navy SEALs that finally took down bin Laden.
After footage of the speech, shot by at least two midshipmen in the crowd, made the rounds online, the videos mysteriously disappeared.
When clicking on the YouTube links supposed to take you to the videos, one is greeted with a message from youtube that simply reads, “This video has been removed by the user.”
So what gives?
When contacted by The Daily Caller, a spokesperson for the Naval Academy said the school asked for the videos to be take down.
“These videos were shot by the individual midshipmen and were not authorized for public dissemination,” said the spokesperson, adding that USNA officials asked the videos be removed “out of respect for privacy for those in the videos.”