Governor brought tiger to LSU; Student jailed for threatening

A student at Louisiana State University was arrested and jailed for allegedly posting an online threat against the state’s governor after the politician brought a live tiger to a football game last weekend.

The 21-year-old student posted on X on Tuesday: “I’m going to kill you @JeffLandry,” State Trooper Grant Auzenne wrote in an affidavit. He wrote that the Louisiana State Analytical and Fusion Exchange (LA-SAFE) gave him a photo of the post, which is still online.

Auzenne wrote that he went to the student’s apartment and spoke with the student, who said they were upset about Jeff Landry, the Republican governor, bringing the tiger to Saturday’s game against the University of Alabama. The student also said the post was a joke, Auzenne wrote, but the officer was not swayed.

Auzenne wrote that he placed the student in “handcuffs which I checked for tightness and double locked.” The student is accused of threatening a government official and spent the night in jail before being released Wednesday, according to the East Baton Rouge Parish show.

An LSU spokesperson said in a statement that the university was aware of the student’s arrest.

“We take very seriously any behavior that threatens the safety of individuals or our community,” the official said. “LSU is committed to providing a respectful, responsible and safe environment for all.”

The LSU Tigers haven’t had a real Tiger on the sidelines in nearly a decade, but Landry, whom Louisianans elected last year, tried to revive the tradition — one of many forays into higher education for the new governor .

Earlier this year, he signed legislation requiring a copy of the Ten Commandments, specifically from the King James Bible, to be displayed in every classroom in Louisiana’s public colleges, universities and trade schools, in addition to public elementary schools. A federal judge blocked the law Tuesday.

In September Landry started pushing LSU will take its 8-year-old tiger, Mike VII, to football games. The university stopped the practice in 2015 due to concerns about the animal’s welfare. LSU denied Landry’s request.

So instead, Landry arranged for another tiger to attend the Nov. 9 game against the University of Alabama, bringing along a big cat named Omar Bradley from Florida. The lawyer reported that Omar was in Mike’s gold and purple cage. (His office said no taxpayer money was used for the stunt, Fox News reports this.)

@sport.illustrated The tiger, which is different from the one that lives on the LSU campus, was brought to the stadium at the request of Governor Jeff Landry (via @Piper Hutchinson, Louisiana Illuminator) #lsu #tiger #mascot #cfb #secondary school #football #louisiana ♬ original sound – Sports Illustrated

“It’s about tradition,” Landry said Monday The lawyer. “Ultimately, these woke people tried to take the tradition out of this country. It is the tradition that built this country.”

The governor’s office did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment about the student’s arrest.

Landry told Fox News before the game that “our hope is that maybe we can make this tiger roar a few times and that will indicate how many touchdowns we will have and it will be more than Alabama.”

Alabama, which didn’t bring a live elephant, nonetheless crushed LSU 42 to 13. Then The lawyer reported that Landry told a crowd at an event, “Our live tiger was unfortunately, disappointingly, the only tiger that showed up on Saturday. I’m sorry.” Landry later said he was joking.