Prom King who wore a dress stands tall against negative criticism

POWDERSVILLE, SC (WSPA) – One Upstate Prom King’s win received a lot of social media attention after a picture was posted on Facebook by the school.

Adam Bell received 49 percent of his classmates votes for Powdersville Prom King.  He tells 7News it was a complete surprise to win, but soon he began receiving negative comments on social media because he wore a dress to prom.

Bell said most of those comments were coming from adults in the community.

“But the kids were actually the ones standing up to the adults and being more supportive than ever. I greatly appreciate all my friends and even people I haven’t even talked to at the school who were standing up to the adults and even their own parents who would comment,” Bell said.

Bell said this is not the first time he has worn a dress to a school function.

“Wearing a dress is like my version of dressing up like most guys version is wearing a tux and mine is more feminine,” Bell said.

While he did not break any dress code rules with his outfit, the school district did pull their picture of his win off their Facebook page after all the negative comments and released this statement to 7News.

“This weekend Powdersville High School hosted it’s annual junior senior prom. Consistent with the school’s long standing tradition, the students nominated and elected a Prom King and Queen. This year the king and queen elected were Aston Irby and Adam Bell.  Facebook was taken down due to specific negative comments directed toward an individual,” said Jane Harrison with Anderson District One.