Oklahoma State Superintendent Who Requires Bible Be Taught In Classrooms Accused Of Airing Porn During Meeting

The Oklahoma MAGA Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ryan Walters, is under investigation after pornography was seen on a TV in his office during a state Board of Education meeting.

Elected to his current position in 2022, Walters previously served as the Oklahoma Secretary of Education after being nominated by Oklahoma Republican Governor Kevin Stitt in 2020.

An anti-LGBTQ+ Christian nationalist, Walters mandated the 10 Commandments and his version of the Christian Bible be part of all secular public school curriculum for grades 5-12. He has also "repeatedly railed against ‘sexual material’ during his term as state superintendent, equating certain books to ‘pornography’ and attempting to ban them from school libraries."

Walters has also denied the existence of both transgender and nonbinary people. Walters' Christian nationalist extremism has even led some of his fellow Republicans to call for his resignation or impeachment.

Two Oklahoma Board of Education members, Becky Carson and Ryan Deatherage, reported the inappropriate behavior by Walters after he failed to take accountability or apologize for it.

Deatherage told NonDoc—a publication by the nonprofit Sustainable Journalism Foundation—that he first noticed the TV and what was playing on it while a parent spoke about an appeal of a district transfer denial. Deatherage had been wondering how to bring the video to the room’s attention when Carson noticed the nudity and spoke up about it.

Carson said "the mama bear and teacher in me came out" and she "stopped the meeting cold" to confront Walters.

Oklahoma Board of Education members Carson and Deatherage—who were the only meeting attendees seated in positions to have a view of Walters' TV screen—told NonDoc they first noticed the images of naked women during the executive session portion of the meeting, but were unsure if Walters had it on the entire time.

Carson said:

“I was like, 'What am I seeing?' I kind of was in shock, honestly. I started to question whether I was actually seeing what I was seeing. I was like, 'Is that woman naked?' And then I was like, 'No, she’s got a body suit on'."

"And it happened very quickly, I was like, 'That is not a body suit'. And I hate to even use these terms, but I said, ‘Those are her nipples.’ And then I was looking closer, and I got a full-body view, and I was like, 'That is pubic hair'."

"Even right now, I couldn’t even tell you what I was watching."

Carson stated she immediately confronted Walters about what was on display on his TV once she figured it out.

"I was so disturbed by it, that I was like—very loudly and boastfully, like I was a parent or a teacher—I said, 'What is on your TV? What am I watching?'."

"He was like, ‘What? What are you talking about?’ He stood up and saw it. He made acknowledgment that he saw it. And I said, ‘Turn it off. Now.’ And he was like, ‘What is this? What is this?'."

"So he acknowledged it was inappropriate just by those words. And he was like, ‘I can’t get it to turn off. I can’t figure out how to turn it off.’ And I said, ‘Get it turned off.’ So he finally got it turned off, and that was the end of it."

She added:

"He didn’t address it. He didn’t apologize. Nothing was said."

Deatherage said:

"I don’t know if he turned it off or switched the channel, I don’t remember. I was surprised that when he came back to the table, he was not apologetic."

"I didn’t ever hear an apology for that being on, and he didn’t seem to be fazed that it was on."

Both Carson and Deatherage want Walters to be accountable for his actions.

As expected, Walters’s director of communications, Quinton Hitchcock, responded to NonDoc by attacking the publication and the entire board, who were also appointed by Republican Governor Stitt.

Hitchcock didn't deny the TV was playing pornography, but, according to Hitchcock, any number of people could watch pornography on Walters' TV. His excuse doesn't explain why Walters would leave the pornography on during the meeting.

In a Friday email, Hitchcock wrote:

"What an absolute joke of a story and this is embarrassing from you to write a junk tabloid lie. Any number of people have access to these offices, you have a hostile board who will say and do anything except tell the truth, and now, 'NonsenseDoc' is reporting on an alleged random TV cable image. Rock solid truth in journalism."

In a statement to local news outlet KOCO, Walters again attacked the board despite Governor Stitt supporting them.

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Walters' hypocrisy was appalling, but unsurprising.

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Oklahoma Republican House Speaker Kyle Hilbert called for a full investigation into Walters' conduct. Hilbert said Walters should "unlock and turn over all relevant devices" as part of an outside review into what happened.

Shortly after the Oklahoma GOP-controlled House Speaker made his intentions known, Oklahoma Republican Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton added that his legislative body was also unwilling to let Walters' actions slide.

Paxton said:

"The accounts made public by board members paint a strange, unsettling scene that demands clarity and transparency."

He indicated the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services was "working through proper channels to initiate the investigation."