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"I am a man..." This article contains mature topics. |
Mr. John Kennedy, usually referred to as "Paedo Kennedy", is a secondary character of The Inbetweeners. He is a geography teacher at Rudge Park Comprehensive in the United Kingdom. Despite the fact he is considered as a secondary character, he only has two episode appearances and exclusively in the Series 3 Trailer. He is rumoured and likely to be a pervert and paedophile. John is portrayed by actor Waen Sheperd.
Background[]
Characterisation[]
Personality[]
As mentioned earlier, Rudge Park students believe Kennedy to be a paedophile and his acts visible in episodes hint at these claims against him. According to Simon, he was allegedly caught in Rudge Park's music cupboard, masturbating over the orchestra.
It is never confirmed directly on the show, but the surname Kennedy is of Irish origin, and he has ginger hair so he may be of Irish background. Also while never stated, it is widely assumed Mr. Kennedy is a homosexual, given his lack of interest in the female students- taking any additional opportunity to groom Neil.
Appearances[]
The Field Trip[]
Gilbert dragging Kennedy out of the boys' dorm
In The Field Trip, Kennedy was asked by student Neil Sutherland if he could help him collect samples with him for the geography field trip, located in Swanage, to which he agreed to. Later, he went swimming with Neil and gave him swimming trunks and bought him a bottle of vodka from an off-licence in return. He also told him to make sure the Head of Sixth Form Phil Gilbert did not find out about the swimming, referred to as "skinny-dipping" by his friends or the illicit alcohol (Neil being underage). Later that night, Kennedy entered the boy's dorm and inappropriately massages Neil's legs. Whilst this awkward moment was happening, Mr. Gilbert walked in and escorted him out, and then gave the boys a deep stare, because they were holding back laughter. As Mr. Gilbert promptly escorted Mr. Kennedy out of the room, Kennedy was making-up excuses to why he was doing it.
Kennedy offering Sutherland a towel
At the end of the episode, a brief segment showed Kennedy with a towel just in case Neil was wet from the boat incident.
The Fashion Show[]
Mr. Kennedy is seen in the episode The Fashion Show as a volunteer to help dress the male models for Rudge Park's Charity Fashion Show. Later, he went backstage because there was a complaint of harassment from the female models. When he went backstage, he saw Sutherland and completely ignored the girls' complaints and tried to undress Neil, assuming he was modelling; when actually he volunteered as another dresser, thinking he would dress girls, so he could see their naked bodies- but instead it was the boys. Neil clarified that he was not a model, to which Kennedy replied with "Oh. You should be", making it obvious he wanted to see him naked.
Later, he approached Sutherland again, whilst drunk and said "Right. Let's get you out of these clothes.", despite the fact that he had already stated that he was not modelling. Kennedy said that he "had a word with the man", making it fine for him to undress Neil, but this was a false claim. When he tried doing this, the fashion show had already finished ten minutes prior.
Friendships and Relationships[]
Phil Gilbert[]
Mr. Gilbert is most-likely friends with Mr. Kennedy because a lot of the time when he catches him behaving inappropriately towards the pupils, he will always swiftly remove him from the scene, diffusing the situation unfolding along the lines of "Come on, John." In The Fashion Show, he whispered to him "I'm putting my fucking neck on the line for you, John.", which makes it seem like he is sympathetic towards him, which he is not to anyone else, making it look like they are friends, given the fact Mr. Gilbert is aware of the inappropriate allegations about his colleague; yet seemingly chooses to ignore them rather than investigate him.
Trivia[]
- Besides the incidents mentioned above, a staff meeting in the Rudge Park Yearbook cites numerous incidents of Gilbert telling Kennedy to be quiet when he mentions issues relating to his "sexual orientation". This could be due to the fact that they are friends, or the most likely explanation is that Gilbert wants to protect the school from bad publicity.
- His name (John Kennedy) is clearly a reference to John F. Kennedy.