Ellen Degeneres is outraged by the news of Texas student DeAndre Arnold. Arnold recently attended the Ellen Degeneres Show where they discussed how his school will not allow him to graduate with his class, due to his hair inadvertently violating his school’s dress code.

  Arnold’s school, Barbers Hill High School has a strict dress code policy in which young men are not allowed to have their hair in their face, past their ears or touching their collar, and their hair must be clean and well groomed. When Arnold refused to cut his dreads to stay within dress code, this instantly created controversy in the news.

  Arnold found that it is unfair that many girls in his school have the option of wearing the hair down past their shoulders but men cannot. This dress code policy prohibits Arnold from expressing himself as a person and his cultural background. 

  Arnold stated “My hair really means… like, it’s really important to me because my dad is from Trinidad. And you know, it’s part of our culture and our heritage. And I really wish the school would kind of be open to other cultures, and just at least let us try some things.”

  Degeneres responded “ I think that’s what schools are supposed to do is teach you about other cultures. You’re not supposed to teach them. They’re supposed to teach you.”

  Administration gave Arnold two options if he wanted to return to school. He can choose either in school suspension, or alternative school which involves being grouped in with kids that have behavioral issues out of school and inside of school.

  Their interview leads them into conversing about optional careers Arnold would like to pursue. Arnold decided he wanted to be a vet, because of the love and loyalty animals give people.

  On that note, Alicia Keys appeared from backstage and presented Arnold with 20,000 thousand dollars, courtesy of Shutterfly.

Towards the end of the interview Degeneres stated “ I just personally think you should be able to wear your hair however you want, especially if there’s girls with long hair.

“ I am begging you. This is a good kid. He deserves to graduate, to walk with all the other kids. I just am urging you to do the right thing. Please,” she said.

  Since then Arnold continues to gain support from family, friends, and other celebrities such as DeAndre Hopkins. Arnold even got invited to be a guest at the Oscars by director and producers of “Hair Love”, Matthew A. Cherry and Dwayne Wade and Gabrielle Union.