The 11-year-old Georgia fan who went viral for refusing to sing “Rocky Top” at a school recital is not backing down from his support of the Bulldogs.
Nolan McGill took social media by storm this week after a TikTok video posted by his mom, Kelsey, showed him angrily shaking his head as his classmates all sang “Rocky Top,” a song that has become a rallying cry for fans of the University of Tennessee.
Nolan, a Georgia fan, goes to school in Chattanooga, roughly two hours away from Tennessee’s campus in Knoxville.
“It’s just a bad song. I’m a Georgia fan,” Nolan told The Athletic in a story published on Friday, December 19. “Georgia’s just better than Tennessee.”
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He added, “You couldn’t pay me to sing that song.”
Nolan, who is in fifth grade, said he and his classmates “practiced that song 100 times,” but he wasn’t interested in crossing enemy lines.
“I’m just sitting there not singing,” he said. “[My classmates] kept saying, ‘Nolan, it’s your favorite song! Come on, sing it!’”
Nolan’s mom caught wind that something was afoot weeks before the recital.
“Nolan had come home a few times saying, ‘I’m not singing ‘Rocky Top,” Kelsey told The Athletic. “And I was thinking, ‘Why on earth would you sing ‘Rocky Top’?’”
When she attended the school performance on Tuesday, December 16, she got her answer.
“I didn’t realize [‘Rocky Top’] was actually in the lineup,” she said. “He actually was telling me that’s part of the show.”
Since posting the video, it has been viewed more than 3 million times across all social platforms, according to The Athletic.
“The school thinks that it’s hilarious,” Kelsey said. “The assistant principal commented on my Facebook post and was like, ‘I saw this as it was happening and was really hoping someone was recording it.’”
Kelsey added, “He’s an 11-year-old kid. With everything going on in the world in these times, let these kids have fun. Let this little boy protest ‘Rocky Top’ if he wants to protest ‘Rocky Top.’”
Former University of Georgia running back Garrison Hearst supported Nolan on social media, writing via X on Thursday, “Hold strong young Bulldawg!”
The viral moment even caught the attention of the University of Georgia, who commented on Kelsey’s video, “Free him 😭.”
Kelsey responded, “I was starting to think you weren’t going to join the chat, @UGA!! My boy will always hold the line for his dawgs!”
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The comments section of Kelsey’s video has been a place for Nolan’s supporters to rally behind their Bulldog comrade.
“I hope he includes this video with his college application essay when it’s time,” one person wrote. “Go dawgs!”
Another said, “Growing up and living here in Nashville TN. I remember this happening to me many years ago in school. I stood there quiet the entire time too. 😂 Bless his heart I know he had a headache after all that too.”
Kelsey responded, “Yes! We’re in Chattanooga so it’s hard out here sometimes but I’m proud of my boy for not falling into this trap!”