Office Space jokes: They’re dated, but are they also threatening? Referencing the 1999 comedy earned one George Washington University a visit from campus police earlier this week, as well a request to sign a statement saying that he wouldn’t burn down university buildings.
The trouble for freshman Ryan W. Moorman started on Wednesday, according to the GW Patriot, a student politics blog that first reported on Moorman’s woes. Frustrated with construction at the university, Moorman tweeted that he was about to start a fire, and followed that tweet up with a picture of put-upon Office Space character Milton with the text “Imma Burn the Building Down.” But the George Washington administration apparently didn’t appreciate the joke.
Moorman was soon visited by a campus police officer, who asked him to write a statement saying that he didn’t plan to start any fires. “It is not my intention to burn the Mount Vernon Campus,” Moorman writes in the statement. “It was a reference to Office Space.”
Problem solved, and no fires started at George Washington. Moorman declined to comment on the incident, citing the advice of his lawyer, while a spokeswoman for the university said the case has been dismissed.
Photo via Flickr user bclinesmith via a Creative Commons license