‘A Joke That's Gone Wrong': Frisco Mother Tries to Clear Son's Name Amid ‘TikTok Joke' Punishment

A Collin County mother is scrambling to clear her 13-year-old son’s name and overturn a school punishment she says goes too far.

It centers around a TikTok joke the teen says he told a teacher.

“I’m confused. I don’t understand how something so simple was able to get this far,” said Carla Broom.

What she says started with her son approaching a teacher at the Frisco Independent School District's Robert Cobb Middle School with a “joke” ended badly.

“My son was falsely accused of. I’ve never heard of Title 9 sexual harassment to a teacher,” said Broom.

The Frisco mother urged NBC 5 to hear directly from her son, Jordan, about the "mumbling joke trend" he says he repeated on Jan. 30.

“Can I get some?” said Jordan before mumbling unintelligibly.

The point of the joke, the teen told NBC 5, was to “just call a restaurant and start mumbling to confuse them.”

Broom says she was recently allowed to watch hallway surveillance video of the incident and saw Jordan and his friends talking to one teacher who appears to catch on to the joke and then approach a second teacher who did not appear to think it was funny.

“The teacher heard, after the third time asking my son to repeat himself, ‘will you give me some (sexually explicit request),’” said Broom. “And that’s not what my son said. My son said gibber gabber.”

Broom says she was not immediately alerted to the situation but was later informed that one of the school’s assistant principals handed down a 1-day in-school suspension over the “joke.”

She says the school leader said, "the case was closed."

Broom says she’s especially outraged over what happened next. Students, including Jordan, returned to Cobb MS the following week. Broom says she met with the school’s other assistant principal who had not been at school for several days.

“She reopened [the case] because she can, is what she said,” said Broom.

This assistant principal reportedly handed Jordan a more severe punishment: 45 days at an alternative school.

“That is not him and I don’t know what she heard or why she decided to say that’s what she heard, but we’re talking about Jordan,” she said.

Her son, she says, is a jokester and a good kid who always makes people laugh.

Broom says her son’s school record will also reflect sexual harassment of a teacher for seven years.

“It’s already hindered his character,” she said. “This will go on his record so when he’s trying to play sports, that’s what they’ll see.”

Broom appealed the punishment and is set to meet with school officials later this month.

In the meantime, she has pulled Jordan from school, sharing that his anxiety is worrisome.

“He’s home because this has caused a downward spiral. A crisis,” she said.

Broom’s daughter who lives in Los Angeles contacted LA’s NAACP chapter about the situation.

Rev. Dr. James Thomas told NBC 5 he will be heading to Frisco for the appeal, deeply concerned about the initial accusation leveled against the teen.

“It’s not that he has to suffer this penalty, but the worst thing that happens to him is his spirit being murdered,” said Thomas.

Thomas says the organization is determined to travel as far away as is needed to protect any student facing allegations like this.

Jordan and his mom say they have tried to reach out to the teacher but have been denied access.

“I just wanted to tell her what happened,” said Jordan. “The joke. I wanted to break it down for her.”

Broom says she will not stop until her son’s name is cleared.

“I will fight until I can’t fight anymore, which is the last breath in my body,” she said. “He’s innocent. This was a joke that’s gone wrong.”

NBC 5 reached out to FISD for comment.

"Due to the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, technically Frisco ISD cannot comment on individual students or release information regarding the disciplinary records of an individual student," a district spokesperson said.

Federal laws also prevent the district from confirming whether there were two investigations in this case, she said.