Popular TikTok creator banned from Clemson after stadium trespassing. Here’s what we know
On Nov. 8, 2024, a social media personality who describes himself as “the internet’s stadium tour guide” showed up on Clemson’s campus ready to film some content.
That afternoon, Garrett Fedewa, better known on TikTok and other social media platforms as “GFed,” did what he’s done at dozens of other schools: Find an open entrance at their football stadium, walk in without permission and take a personal tour, all while filming his journey to post online.
This time, though, his “Walk-On Challenge” resulted in a trespassing notice.
The Clemson University Police Department issued Fedewa a formal trespass notice for gaining unauthorized access to Memorial Stadium on Nov. 8. He is now banned from campus indefinitely, as first revealed by Fedewa and confirmed by The State.
A CUPD incident report stemming from the encounter, obtained by The State via public records request, says Fedewa was not arrested or criminally charged.
But he was found to be engaging in “suspicious activity” and was issued a trespassing notice before leaving the scene “without incident.”
Clemson’s football program and athletic department have won national awards for their cooperation with the media. The school generally makes an effort to accommodate all requests to highlight specific players, teams and venues.
In Fedewa’s case, the main issue appeared to be a lack of prior communication. Memorial Stadium is listed as a “publicly available facility” in the university’s facility use policy, but anyone wishing to use the venue (whether affiliated or unaffiliated with Clemson) must obtain formal permission and a reservation.
By accessing the stadium without permission, Fedewa violated that policy.
Fedewa said in a Nov. 27 video posted to his social media accounts, @GfedGoCrazy, that he’d already finished filming inside the stadium before being approached.
It was the first time in roughly two years of filming in-stadium videos — including recent videos at South Carolina and Coastal Carolina — that he’s had a serious police encounter, he said, but the situation was “handled well, all things considered.”
“They simply did what they were instructed to do,” Fedewa said of CUPD. “We had a productive conversation off camera, and based on the information they gathered they gave me a trespass notice, which I thought was fair enough.”
Fedewa added in the video — which is titled “I’m not allowed at Clemson” — that while he’s edited and completed his full Clemson video, he doesn’t plan to publish it.
“I want to post it, but I also don’t want to get arrested,” he said.
Fedewa’s agent declined comment to The State. A Clemson athletic department spokesman also declined to comment. Here’s what else the police report revealed:
Entering stadiums ‘without permission’
On Friday, Nov. 8, the Clemson football team was out of town ahead of a road game at Virginia Tech the next day. The men’s basketball team was playing a home game.
University police was initially dispatched to Memorial Stadium around 7:18 p.m. that evening after the university’s Physical Security Operations Center (PSOC) observed a man on surveillance camera near Howard’s Rock and inside the stadium.
According to the incident report, a CUPD officer entered Memorial Stadium and conducted a “security sweep” for the individual but didn’t see him.
A second responding officer wrote that she “saw the subject inside the stadium” at one point “but could not make contact.”
CUPD eventually caught up with the man — identified through his driver’s license as Fedewa — outside of Memorial Stadium walking toward Centennial Boulevard.
Fedewa told police he was on campus to attend the basketball game and “decided to explore the football stadium beforehand,” entering through an open gate.
“He also told us he regularly enters stadiums after hours without permission while visiting said colleges,” an officer wrote. “He also indicated he had been in Columbia the day before and had entered Williams-Brice Stadium without permission.”
During Fedewa’s conversation with CUPD, police dispatch also notified officers that Fedewa was facing active arrest warrants from the University of Georgia’s police department after he filmed a similar “Walk-On Challenge” in Athens.
Records obtained by The State show that UGA police issued three misdemeanor arrest warrants for Fedewa in December 2023 after an athletic department official flagged one of Fedewa’s videos in November 2023 that showed him “unlawfully” accessing UGA facilities, including the football team’s Sanford Stadium.
He was also barred from all university property for two years.
The UGA police department, though, declined to have Fedewa arrested and extradited back to Georgia on those charges, per the report. A CUPD officer instead told Fedewa he needed to “resolve the matter directly” with UGA.
“Given Mr. Fedewa’s recent history of unauthorized entries, his active warrant, and his lack of affiliation with Clemson University, I issued him a trespass notice, barring him from Clemson University campus grounds,” a CUPD officer wrote.
Fedewa was cited for “suspicious activity” but wasn’t arrested. He signed CUPD’s trespass notice and left the scene “without incident,” according to the report.
The interaction lasted roughly an hour, and the case was marked as “administratively closed” the next morning.
After their interaction with Fedewa, CUPD officers said they also “secured” the open gate Fedewa used to access the stadium: Gate 20, a top deck gate on the north side.
‘Risk involved’
About three weeks later, Fedewa addressed the incident on social media.
He said in a video posted Nov. 27 that his trip to Clemson “went pretty smoothly” and he felt like he’d “accomplished enough for it to be high-quality content” before being stopped by CUPD. Fedewa also said he held no ill will toward the university.
“I know some of you might be upset I don’t have a video right away and I’m sorry,” Fedewa said. “But I don’t want that to make you upset with Clemson because I’m personally not. I fully understand there’s risk involved with the content that I make.
“I really just feel more unlucky than anything, because this was the very last FBS campus in the lower 48 we haven’t been to. And of course this happens.”
A CUPD spokesman told The State that a formal trespass notice “prohibits an individual from entering on any Clemson University property” in accordance with state law, with accommodations on a “case-by-case basis” for the purpose of conducting official business. Those exceptions must be approved by CUPD.
Trespass notices are considered indefinite until they’re rescinded. They are reviewed three years after the date they were issued, the spokesman said.
In Fedewa’s case, that date is Nov. 8, 2027.
It’s worth noting that Clemson has increased security at its football stadium over the past decade after a highly publicized June 2013 incident in which a man was accused of vandalizing Howard’s Rock and stealing a portion of it.
The plexiglass case covering the rock (added after the 2013 incident) was also vandalized in a separate February 2015 incident.
Other SC visits
Even though he also entered their stadiums without permission, Fedewa had a much different experience filming his “Walk-On Challenge” at South Carolina and Coastal Carolina, the other two FBS football programs in the state.
Fedewa visited Columbia and accessed Williams-Brice Stadium without permission on Thursday Nov. 7, the day before his Clemson trip.
In a nearly 10-minute video, he walked through an open stadium gate and accessed the field, the lower deck, the upper deck, the press box, various luxury seating areas and a Cockaboose tailgating train across the road as well.
Fedewa’s USC video posted Nov. 21 and drew rave reviews from South Carolina fans — and Justin King, the university’s senior associate AD for football creative content and branding. “Been waiting for this!” King wrote on X. “Welcome home.”
Fedewa also visited Coastal Carolina’s Brooks Stadium the same night ahead of a Nov. 7 home game vs. App State and accessed similar areas without permission. That video, posted Nov. 14, got an even stronger response.
CCU president Michael Benson replied to the video on X, saying he “loved” Fedewa’s content, and invited him back to campus. Fedewa ended up attending Coastal Carolina’s last home football game of the year and filming an all-access video.
It’s unclear what areas of Memorial Stadium Fedewa accessed during his trip to Clemson. He said that his Clemson video is “done” and he hopes to get “clearance” from the university to post it, but he understands if that can’t happen.
A CUPD spokesman said the release of such a video “would not itself constitute a criminal violation,” since there are no pending criminal charges related to the incident at this point. Fedewa said he was at peace with the overall outcome.
“To all my doubters out there, these videos are very real,” he said in a video. “We take very real chances every time we post. And ... if you wanna try to do what I do, you’re gonna be taking on those exact same risks, too.”
This story was originally published January 8, 2025 at 10:15 AM.
