Princeton High teens played Jews vs. Nazi beer pong — and classmate put them on blast

PRINCETON — When a group of Princeton High School teenagers got together recently in the basement of a friend's home to drink beer, they thought it would funny to play beer pong with a "Jews vs. Nazi" theme, complete with an "Anne Frank" cup.

They even posted a picture of them playing it, leaving it up for the world to see the beer-filled cups arranged into a Star of David and a swastika on each end of the ping pong table.

But at least one student didn't find that cool.

Jamaica Ponder took a screenshot of the Snapchat image and then took to her blog to condemn her classmates. Not just those who played the game, but so many who saw the game and said nothing.

"Well, perhaps it is a joke. But then I guess the punchline would be: genocide. Pardon me if I don’t find that to be hilarious," she wrote in the Wednesday post titled "Drinking Games," which has gotten more than a 1,000 shares on Facebook and the attention of the district superintendent.

In a statement to NJ Advance Media on Thursday, schools Superintendent Steve Cochrane said the district would be speaking to students and parents about the photo. Cochrane said he is "deeply upset that some of our students chose to engage in a drinking game with clearly anti-Semitic overtones and to broadcast their behavior over social media."

Ponder, who is black, noted that some Jewish students were in the room while the game was being played.

"And on top of that, why does the implication that this is even remotely okay exist in the first place?" she writes.

"I know I’m not the only one who saw this Snapchat story. Yet here I am, the only one saying anything about it. I am unsure as to what’s worse: the static silence from my peers, or the fact that this happened in the first place."

Apparently, this kind of game is not peculiar to the youth of Princeton. You can find rules online for all sorts of variations on the genocide drinking game, aka "Holocaust pong," dating back to at least 2011.

The Anti-Defamation League said in 2014 that "not only is this game profoundly offensive, its rules also encourage anti-Semitism against the 'Jew' team."

The ADL said the game "game under­scores once more the crit­i­cal need for Holo­caust edu­ca­tion."

What do you think? Was the beer pong game harmless, irreverent fun — or is Ponder right in saying that some things should just be off limits?

Sergio Bichao is deputy digital editor at New Jersey 101.5. Send him news tips: Call 609-438-1015 or email sergio.bichao@townsquaremedia.com. Follow on Twitter and Facebook.