How a podcast community helped restore the controversial 'Gator Bait' chant for Florida football team

The University of Florida football program has reinstated the “Gator Bait” chant after a three-year ban implemented during the pandemic. The chant echoes through Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, which in 2020 saw its crowds shrink from over 90,000 to fewer than 20,000 under virus-related restrictions.

School officials cited historical racial undertones for the removal, linking the phrase to late 19th and early 20th century depictions of African-American children as alligator bait. The chant itself, however, was popularized in the 1990s by former Gators defensive back Lawrence Wright and had become a fixture of game-day tradition.

James Di Virgilio, host of the Gator Nation Football Podcast, said the decision surprised him and many fans. “I think, like any Gator fan, it was surprising at first,” Di Virgilio said. “As far as anyone could tell, no one who had ever used the chant at Florida had any idea there could be any connection to anything other than a gator eating our opponents, so to speak, in a humorous way.”

Over two seasons, Di Virgilio and co-host Allen Williams, both Florida graduates who started the podcast in 2014, surveyed their audience about reviving the cheer. Di Virgilio said he received hundreds of messages in favor and only one opposing. “It wasn’t just young people, it wasn’t just old people. It wasn’t just people of a certain skin tone,” he said. “It felt like it was a very pure, wholesome reason for wanting it.”

In July, the university hired Dr. Stuart Bell as president. Di Virgilio contacted Bell before encouraging fans to email him. “Here’s my stance: I have limited information. You might have more information than I have. I would never want to do this if it was going to be divisive towards (other) Gators,” Di Virgilio said. “But if you do the research and you find that this is something a majority of Gator fans want, then on your own merits, maybe think about reinstituting it.”

The effort gained momentum as messages piled into Bell’s inbox. On the Friday before the season opener against Florida Atlantic, a clip circulated of the Fightin’ Gator Marching Band playing the chant at practice. The following day, roughly 90,000 fans joined in.

Di Virgilio cautioned against taking personal credit. “I may have had 0.0001% to do with it,” he said. “Whether we were instrumental or not, someone else could have done it.”

While the return drew widespread enthusiasm, some vocal fans opposed the reinstatement. Di Virgilio urged mutual respect. “I hope that if you’re on the side of, you don’t love it, you understand that those that (do) want it, want it for very traditional Florida reasons,” he said. “Ultimately, we are all Gators.”

He described the outcome as a reflection of free speech and majority will. “This is a really cool thing to know as podcasters, as a community of people, if you care about something you can take a second to write about it, on any side,” Di Virgilio said. “You may or may not have an influence, but at the end of the day, ‘we the people,’ so to speak, we do have a voice to share what we want.”

The chant returned to The Swamp on Saturday.