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"Snooki" Gets Punched, Teacher Brad Ferro Gets Fired

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NEW YORK (CBS) It was the "Snooki punch" seen 'round the world and now the New York City high school gym teacher who knocked out "Jersey Shore" cast member Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi while MTV's cameras were rolling, has lost his job.

Photo: The Punch.

A New York Department of Education spokeswoman said Tuesday that Brad Ferro's firing is imminent.

"The department is in the process of taking termination action," the spokeswoman said.

The beefy Queens Community High School instructor, who was once known to love dodge ball and rope climbing, went a little "extracurricular" at a Seaside Heights, N.J. bar August 19, 2009.

Photo: Brad Ferro, 24, as he was arrested.

There, he got into a fight with Polizzi and struck her in the face while cameras were rolling.

Ferro, 23, was reassigned to one of New York's notorious rubber rooms after he was charged with simple assault, the New York Daily News reports.

In New York City, teachers accused of wrongdoing can be sent to "rubber room" detention where they sit seven hours a day, five days a week without working, but still getting paid.

Photo: Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, MTV "Jersey Shore" cast member.

Once Ferro gets his termination letter, he will have 30 days to pack up and go.

Ferro's dad told the Daily News that his son was provoked.

"A woman who works for them instigated my son into doing something very stupid," Dan Ferro said.

"When you get a bunch of people in a situation with alcohol and instigate, someone's going to do something stupid, and that's obviously what MTV wants."

Photo: Cast of "Jersey Shore."

MTV previewed clips of the outrageous punch in promos for "Jersey Shore," but the television network later called the hit "extremely disturbing" and pulled the footage.

But not everything thing turned out badly.

"Snooki" has now become a media sensation, making appearances on morning television and the "The Jay Leno Show." She is also getting paid thousands for appearance fees to show up at nightclubs and conventions.

WATCH "SNOOKI" GIVE THE WEATHER

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December 14, 2009 - "Snooki" Punched in the Face, Gym Teacher Arrested, MTV Pulls Scene from "Jersey Shore"

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