‘Girls Gone Wild’ Canceled, Fundraiser for Victims Planned Instead, Other Events Rescheduled Around Blacksburg

Girls Gone Wild, scheduled to occur at Oge-Chi’s on Draper Road in Blacksburg, will be canceled.

The decision came Friday, according to Jerry Smith, director of operations for Chiamaka Entertainment, Inc., which owns the restaurant.

The event, scheduled for April 20 at 9 p.m, was taken off the Girls Gone Wild website, girlsgonewild.com.

Smith said Chiamaka planned to release the information on Monday, but delayed because of the shootings that occurred at West Ambler Johnston Hall and Norris Hall on campus.

“In light of the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech, we were unable to do our scheduled press conference,” Smith said.

The event will not be rescheduled, according to a manager at Oge-Chi’s who did not want to be identified.

“That kind of stuff just doesn’t belong in any school system,” the manager said of the shootings that occurred on campus on Monday.

Girls Gone Wild is a video series created by the film production company Mantra Films, Inc. The company travels the country to shoot their footage.

“We did more investigation of what the Girls Gone Wild corporation was, and we decided not to bring it to Blacksburg,” Smith said.

Smith declined to comment on the investigation.

The event has created controversy in Blacksburg. Several local groups and individuals, including Blacksburg Mayor Ron Rordam, have spoken out against it, according to an article in the Roanoke Times.

Womanspace, a Virginia Tech student organization, was one of the groups planning a protest according to Chelsea Benincasa, president of Womanspace.

“We think this is very appropriate,” said Benincasa, a senior communications major. “We didn’t want them in the first place.”

The restaurant is instead planning a fundraiser on Friday for the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund. Smith said that Friday’s entire cover charge will be donated to the fund. The charge is $3 per person or $5 if under 21 years old.

“We want to do something to try and heal the community,” Smith said.

The Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund will be used for several expenses, including grief counseling and memorials, according to the fund’s website, www.vt.edu/tragedy/memorial_fund.php. Individual donations can be made on the site.

Restaurant hours are 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 5 p.m.-2 a.m. on Friday.

Other local organizations are figuring out what to do with scheduled events. A concert at the Lyric, a theatre on College Avenue, was cancelled. Robin and Linda Williams were scheduled to perform on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

“We felt it would be inappropriate to have the concert during this week of mourning,” spokesperson Rachel Fletcher said.

The Lyric will remain open and no other events will be rescheduled. The movie “Notes on a Scandal” plays at 7 p.m. until Friday.

“”We want to stay open to give people a place to take their minds off the tragic events at Virginia Tech,” said Ashley Maynor, general manager at the Lyric.

Champs Sports Bar and Restaurant will go forward with their schedule as planned, kitchen manager Samantha McDonald said.

“We’re doing business as usual,” McDonald said.

The myspace page for Out of Orbit, a band formerly from Blacksburg, said the band will play at the restaurant on Saturday at 8 p.m. But the band considered dropping the show before deciding against it, bass player Adam Cohen said.

“I’ve talked to some more people, and it looks like we’re going to go ahead with the show,” Cohen said.

Cohen and his family moved to Blacksburg from Lynchburg, Va. when he was nine. He lived there for fifteen years before moving in 2004. Out of Orbit began in April of 2002.

“It’s such a shocking thing any time another human being, who’s no different than you or I, lacks judgment and lashes out in such a violent way,” Cohen said.