Toronto students play prank on professor by stripping and singing Backstreet Boys

Several students at the University of Toronto recently played a prank on a professor by stripping and singing Backstreet Boys mid-lecture. 

The whole stunt was captured in a hilarious video posted to TikTok, which shows a group of male students removing their shirts and delivering a pitchy (but still respectable) rendition of the Backstreet Boys' 1999 bop, "I Want It That Way." 

A UofT Professor was pleasantly surprised after students prank the class by stripping and singing to Backstreet Boys - 🎥 TikTok/petrich.0r #Toronto #UofT pic.twitter.com/pXWwsNPaon

— blogTO (@blogTO) March 7, 2023

After their emotional performance, the professor is heard saying "thank you" and "call me." 

One student told blogTO that they heard the prank was part of a sports team rookie initiation, and that the group didn't initially look suspicious. 

"They blended in class then suddenly stood up out of nowhere and sang," they told blogTO. 

The prank occurred on Thursday at the University of Toronto's St. George campus, during a "MUS306: Popular Music in North America" class lecture. 

Perhaps it was fitting that the mini-flash mob chose to pull the whole stunt in a course dedicated to the best music born out of the continent, because you definitely can't talk about 90s pop without special mention of the Backstreet Boys. 

The course description is listed as "listening to and analyzing popular music in a historical and social context," so it's safe to say students taking the class didn't divert too far off from the course requirements when tuning into the prank.