Latest news with #BeckyCarson
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Ultra religious Oklahoma education boss breaks silence after he was 'caught looking at photo of NAKED woman on work TV'
Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters is denying any wrongdoing after two members of the State Board of Education alleged they saw images of naked women on a television screen in his office during a closed-door meeting last week. The accusation has triggered demands for an investigation from top Republican leaders, including the governor. The incident reportedly occurred on Thursday during an executive session focused on student attendance and teacher credentials. Board members Becky Carson and Ryan Deatherage say they were stunned to see what appeared to be graphic, full-frontal nudity displayed on a screen connected to Walters' computer. Carson, a former teacher, said she confronted Walters immediately. 'I saw them just walking across the screen, and I'm like, "no. I'm sorry I even have to use this language, but I'm like, Those are her nipples. And then I'm like, "That's pubic hair." What in the world am I watching? I didn't watch a second longer. … I was so disturbed by it, I was like, "What is on your TV?" I was very stern, like I'd been a mother or a classroom teacher. And I said, "What am I watching? Turn it off now!" she told The Oklahoman. The superintendent, who was seated with his back to the screen, turned the TV off but did not apologize or offer an explanation. The incident unfolded just feet away from his colleagues. Walters, a hardline conservative who has made national headlines for mandating Bibles in classrooms and crusading against 'pornographic books' in schools, has denied the accusations outright. 'Any suggestion that a device of mine was used to stream inappropriate content on the television set is categorically false,' Walters said in a statement on Sunday. 'I have no knowledge of what was on the TV screen during the alleged incident.' He called the claims 'politically motivated attacks' from a hostile education board bent on derailing his agenda. But Republican leaders in the state aren't backing down. Governor Kevin Stitt said he was 'profoundly disappointed' if the allegations are true, while Senate President Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton called the claims 'bizarre and troubling,' urging clarity and transparency. House Speaker Kyle Hilbert demanded a third-party investigation and called on Walters to 'unlock and turn over all relevant devices' for review. 'We hold educators to the strictest of standards when it comes to explicit material,' Deatherage said. 'The standard for the superintendent should be no different.' The Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services is now reviewing the matter, though key questions remain unanswered - including whether the content was inadvertently streamed from Walters' device or another source. A spokesperson for Walters, Quinton Hitchcock, claimed others had access to the superintendent's office and described the board as politically 'hostile.' The allegations are particularly explosive given Walters' political image. Since being elected in 2022, the former teacher and father of four has spearheaded a deeply conservative overhaul of the state's education system, targeting what he describes as 'radical leftist indoctrination' in public schools. His most controversial move: mandating that all classrooms display the 'God Bless the USA Bible' - a Bible endorsed by former President Donald Trump and country star Lee Greenwood, which includes the Constitution and the Pledge of Allegiance. Disclosure reports showed Trump made $300,000 in royalties from the Bible's sales. The Oklahoma Supreme Court blocked the plan, but Walters filed a motion this week to reinstate it. Now, his credibility is being tested under a completely different lens. 'These falsehoods are the desperate tactics of a broken establishment afraid of real change,' Walters said. 'They aren't just attacking me - they're attacking the values of the Oklahomans who elected me to challenge the status quo. 'I will not be distracted. My focus remains on making Oklahoma the best state in the nation, in every category,' he went on. But for board member Becky Carson, who watched the alleged images appear on the screen, the moment was unforgettable. 'I was like, "Those are naked women," and then I was like, "No, wait a minute… this is just really bizarre," she said, initially wondering if the women were wearing tan bodysuits. She added that Walters never addressed what happened. 'There has to be accountability.' Walters' tenure has been marked by sharp rhetoric, high-profile battles with LGBTQ+ advocates, and controversial remarks about educators - whom he has previously labeled as 'perverts' when criticizing gender-inclusive curriculums.
Associated Press
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Oklahoma authorities investigate reports of explicit images on state education chief's TV
An Oklahoma sheriff's office Monday opened an investigation over reports that images of nude women were displayed on the state's school superintendent office television during a meeting with education board members. Top Oklahoma lawmakers have sought answers over accounts given by two State Board of Education members, who said they saw the images during a meeting in Ryan Walters 's office Thursday. Another board member, Chris Van Denhende, said he was not in a position to see the television but that 'something was on the screen that should not have been,' based on Walters' reaction. The investigation is in the early stages, said Aaron Brilbeck, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office. He said it was not clear if any laws were violated. Walters, a Republican, has spent much of his first term in office lauding President Donald Trump, feuding with teachers unions and local school superintendents, and trying to end what he describes as 'wokeness' in public schools. Brilbeck said the sheriff's office was investigating at the request of the state's Office of Management and Enterprise Services, which handles technology, human resources and property management issues for state government. Education board members Becky Carson and Ryan Deatherage told the online news outlet NonDoc that they saw a video featuring naked women in Walters' office during the executive session. They said that they were the only people seated in places where they could see the screen. Carson said that when she asked Walters to turn it off he expressed confusion before doing so. Walters said in a post on the social platform X on Sunday that 'any suggestion that a device of mine was used to stream inappropriate content on the television set is categorically false.' 'I have no knowledge of what was on the TV screen during the alleged incident, and there is absolutely no truth to any implication of wrongdoing,' he wrote. Walters' office did not immediately reply to a request by The Associated Press for comment about the investigation on Monday. Van Denhende told the AP that he's fine with the sheriff's department investigating, though 'I'm not certain if it is a violation of law or state policy.' Senate Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton, a Republican, in a news release on Friday said it was 'a bizarre and troubling situation,' and that 'the accounts made public by board members paint a strange, unsettling scene that demands clarity and transparency.' State Sen. Adam Pugh, a Republican who is the Senate education chairman, said in the news release that the reports from the meeting 'raise a number of questions.' Carson nor Deatherage immediately replied Monday to a request for comment from the AP.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Education boss who railed against sexual content in schools showed nude women on office TV during meeting, colleagues say
An Oklahoma education boss is under investigation after colleagues say he allegedly showed images of nude women on his office TV during a meeting. Republican Ryan Walters, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, hosted a meeting on Thursday where two State Board of Education members claim they saw the explicit images. Walters has flatly denied the accounts, claiming they are the result of a political agenda'. But board members Ryan Deatherage and Becky Carson told The Oklahoman that they couldn't quite believe their eyes. Carson told the outlet: 'I was like, "those are naked women", and then I was like, "No, wait a minute. Those aren't naked, surely those aren't naked women. 'Something is playing a trick on my eye. Maybe they just have on tan body suits. This is just really bizarre".' She added that it then became clear what she was watching, and that it had left her 'disturbed'. Carson said: 'I was like, "What is on your TV?" I was very stern, like I'd been a mother or a classroom teacher. And I said, "What am I watching? Turn it off now!".' The two said that Walters, who has four children to with his wife Katie, had his back to the TV at the time and that he did not apologize or offer any explanation as he turned off the TV. An inquiry is now underway into the incident, according to state Senate President Lonnie Paxton. Paxton said in a statement: 'This is a bizarre and troubling situation that raises serious questions about the events and what took place during yesterday's executive session at the Oklahoma State Board of Education meeting. 'The accounts made public by board members paint a strange, unsettling scene that demands clarity and transparency. 'Senator (Adam) Pugh and I appreciate the quick action by OMES to help coordinate through this situation to get details on exactly what happened. More transparency is essential before strong conclusions can be drawn.' On Friday, Walters issued a defiant statement suggesting that both Deatherage and Carson had made the whole thing up. He said: 'Some of these board members are blatantly dishonest and cannot hide their political agenda. 'It is disappointing that they are more interested in creating distractions than getting work done for Oklahoma families.' During his tenure as State Superintendent he has railed against sexual material, labeling some books as 'pornography' while attempting to ban them from schools. In October of last year, he mandated that every public school classroom in the state must have a Bible. Offering specifics, the Bibles must include a text of the Pledge of Allegiance, the US Constitution and other historical documents not typically associated with the text. The only Bible that fit the bill was county music star Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA Bible, which is endorsed by President Donald Trump. Trump received royalties for their sales, according to The New York Times, with disclosure reports from last August showing he made $300,000 from endorsing it. In March the state Supreme Court blocked the attempt, Walters filed a motion this week to lift a stay that pauses the purchases of the Bibles for the approaching school year. A former public school teacher who was elected to his post in 2022, Walters ran on a platform of fighting 'woke ideology,' banning books from school libraries and getting rid of 'radical leftists' who he claims are indoctrinating children in classrooms.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Far-right Oklahoma schools head Ryan Walters had nude women on TV during meeting: report
Ryan Walters, the anti-LGBTQ+, right-wing Christian Oklahoma superintendent of public instruction, had a program with images of nude women on his office TV during a state Board of Education meeting Thursday, according to two board members. Keep up with the latest in + news and politics. Becky Carson and Ryan Deatherage told NonDoc they saw the images during the executive session portion of the meeting. They were the only ones seated to have a view of the screen, they 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,' Carson said. '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.' She confronted Walters about it, she said. '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?'' she continued. '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. He didn't address it. He didn't apologize. Nothing was said.' 'I don't know if he turned it off or switched the channel, I don't remember,' Deatherage said. '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.' He and Carson said Walters should be held accountable for the incident. Walters's director of communications, Quinton Hitchcock, responded to NonDoc by email Friday. 'What an absolute joke of a story and this is embarrassing from you to write a junk tabloid lie,' he wrote. '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.' NonDoc notes that Walters, a Republican, 'has repeatedly railed against 'sexual material' during his term as state superintendent, equating certain books to 'pornography' and attempting to ban them from school libraries.' He has also denied the existence of transgender and nonbinary people and wants to teach the Bible in public schools. Walters has sometimes proved to be too much even for fellow Republicans, as some have called for his impeachment. Related: Related: During the open session of Thursday's meeting, Walters discussed plans to test teachers moving in from liberal states to make sure they don't bring so-called woke ideas to Oklahoma classrooms. State legislators are responding to the NonDoc report. 'Shocked would be maybe an understatement a little bit,' House Common Education Committee Chairman Dick Lowe, a Republican, told the site. He said he couldn't see the TV screen during the time he was in the executive session, but he has spoken to both Carson and Deatherage. He has reported the situation to House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, he said. Hilbert is also a Republican. 'We're going to find out what the law says we do,' Lowe said. 'We're not going to try to make law or devise plans or anything like that. We're going to find out what are the appropriate steps. I've talked to the speaker. We're going to do the right thing.' House Democratic Leader Cyndi Munson issued a statement saying, "Regardless of if recent allegations are true, Oklahomans are in dire need of new leadership at the Oklahoma State Department of Education. While we wait for more information, we will follow the guidance of the Speaker and trust that any alleged moral or criminal wrongdoings will be thoroughly investigated." Her statement was reported by Oklahoma City TV station KWTV. The station also quoted a statement from Oklahoma Democratic Party Chair John Waldron. "It's not a surprising coincidence that news of Oklahoma's schools falling to 50th in the nation arrived within hours of reports of the State Superintendent airing porn in his office," he said. "Ryan Walters' leadership is a moral failure and an institutional failure, and our students are paying the price.' Republican Sen. Adam Pugh said Walters, Carson, and Deatherage all should have the opportunity to give their side of the story. "I appreciate the efforts by everyone who are taking these allegations seriously," he said in a statement, according to KWTV. "We'll be watching closely as more information comes to light.'Story developing … This article originally appeared on Advocate: Far-right Oklahoma schools head Ryan Walters had nude women on TV during meeting: report Solve the daily Crossword
