Ochsner Health is facing fallout from a social media post filmed at one of its New Orleans-area hospitals that featured several employees playing their version of a TikTok meme and included sexually suggestive with hospital material and other references to sexual acts.
The video, which has since been taken down, used “Slut Me Out”, a 2022 hit single by rapper NLE Choppa, as the soundtrack.
At least five women and two men appear in the 25-second video syncing the lyrics to the song, which depicts various sex acts. Employees, seen wearing Ochsner scrubs and badges, make obscene gestures with their hands and hospital equipment in what appears to be a patient room, hospital hallway and nursing station.
Ochsner executive vice president and chief administrative officer Tracey Schiro confirmed that the video was filmed at one of its New Orleans facilities. In a prepared statement, she said “we have investigated the situation and taken appropriate action with those involved in the video.”
Schiro declined to say what action the hospital system took and whether any of the employees seen in the video were fired.
At least one of the participants in the video, a young woman, is wearing an LSU Nursing sweatshirt. Students in LSU’s health science programs regularly complete clinical rotations at Ochsner and other area hospitals as part of their training.
LSU Health’s Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Dr. Janet Southerland, declined to comment on whether LSU students were involved in the video, citing federal Family Education Rights and Privacy Protection Act. private life.
Workplace Videos
Ochsner’s video isn’t the only one to elicit a response from hospital administrators. Employees at hospitals and businesses across the United States have been disciplined for videos deemed problematic because they were filmed on company property during working hours.
Last year, a Georgia hospital disciplined nurses at a maternity ward who posted about their “bad guys” regarding patient requests. Earlier this year, Walmart fired a Georgia employee after filming a TikTok video at work on her 1 p.m. shifts. Starbucks fired an Indiana employee who filmed a TikTok video about demanding customers and Fresno Airport fired employees for making a dance video using airport equipment as a prop.
Labor lawyers say most companies today have clear rules about posting on social media and what is and isn’t allowed.
“It’s a huge problem for employers,” said Ed Harold, local employment law specialist with national law firm Fisher Phillips. “Over the past 10 years, they’ve all started adopting social media policies that are quite simple, prohibiting employees from posting videos on social media at work or on behalf of companies.
Harold said healthcare facilities in particular have strict policies due to federal laws governing patient privacy.
“People don’t seem to understand that free speech has nothing to do with the relationship between you and a private employer,” Harold said. “A private employer has the right to discipline or fire an employee for what they say and do on social media, with very few exceptions.”
Ochsner employees who asked not to be named when speaking about the fallout from the video said the hospital group has a strict social media policy and employees were reminded of this following the “Slut Me Up” video.
“We meet with our teams to remind them of our commitment to hold ourselves to the highest professional standards both at our facilities and on social media,” Schiro said.
A viral success
While social media has been around for nearly two decades, TikTok, which went live in 2016, became an instant hit with young users and became the preferred platform for short videos featuring popular songs.
NLE Choppa, real name Bryson Potts, is a 20-year-old rapper from Memphis. “Slut Me Out” caused a stir last year, climbing the charts and racking up more than 1.3 million likes on the rapper’s TikTok alone.
It has also inspired countless social media posts.
Ochsner’s video was among the most creative and choreographed. The post opens with two Ochsner employees in scrubs ripping off paper hospital gowns while Choppa sings “Tear off my shirt if you love me.”
The video shows an employee wearing an LSU Nursing sweatshirt pushing another employee in a wheelchair, as she sits with her legs straddled and gestures toward her crotch to another set of explicit lyrics.
In another scene, an employee twerks in a hospital elevator. Another, with lyrics describing oral sex, features an employee pretending to smoke on a syringe.
In the final scenes, three older employees, including a man in a dress shirt and bow tie, and a female employee in a blouse, take turns mouthing the chorus “Slut me up”.
The employee appears to be seated at a desk in a nursing station.