An investigation is underway in Oklahoma after a television screen in the MAGA state school superintendent’s office reportedly showed a video of nude women during an executive session of the State Board of Education on Thursday.
The images reportedly appeared on a screen in the office of Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s far-right Superintendent of Public Instruction. Walters previously told schools to teach the Bible and Ten Commandments, demanded students watch him pray for Donald Trump, and named transphobe Chaya Raichik to a state education committee. He also tried to use state money to purchase bibles for classrooms that matched the specifics of those marketed by the president and his family.
As you might expect, Walters has led a crusade against “pornography” in school libraries.
Two members of the Oklahoma board of education said they were shocked at what they saw on the screen on Thursday.
“I was like, ‘Those are naked women,’” board member Becky Carson told The Oklahoman. “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.’”
“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.”
Carson told Walters to turn the video off.
“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,” Carson said, according to NonDoc Media, an Oklahoma news website. “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.”
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Carson and board member Ryan Deatherage said the video looked “retro” and did not involve sexual intercourse.
“I don’t know if he turned it off or switched the channel, I don’t remember,” Deatherage told NonDoc. “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.”
Republican state Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton told Oklahoma Voice that the Office of Management and Enterprise Services is carrying out an investigation into the incident.
“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,” Paxton said in a statement. “The accounts made public by board members paint a strange, unsettling scene that demands clarity and transparency.”
Walters said the claims were a distraction.
“Some of these board members are blatantly dishonest and cannot hide their political agenda,” Walters told KOKH Fox 25. “It is disappointing that they are more interested in creating distractions than getting work done for Oklahoma families.”
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Walters’ communications director, Quinton Hitchcock, called the story a “junk tabloid lie,” according to NonDoc.
“Regardless of if recent allegations are true, Oklahomans are in dire need of new leadership at the Oklahoma State Department of Education,” Oklahoma House Democratic Leader Cyndi Munson told KOKH Fox 25.
“These are serious allegations made by two members of the State Board and an expeditious third-party review is warranted,” Republican House Speaker Kyle Hilbert said in a statement. “I urge the State Superintendent to unlock and turn over all relevant devices and fully cooperate with an investigation.”
“If no wrongdoing occurred, a prompt and transparent review should quickly clear his name,” he added.
Last year, the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s Library Media Advisory Committee — which includes Raichik, who runs the anti-trans Libs of TikTok social media account — attempted to ban The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls from Edmond high school libraries. The committee argued that the books are “pornographic.”
“Edmond Public Schools not only allows kids to access porn in schools, they are doubling down to keep pornography on the bookshelves,” Walters said in a statement. “Parents and kids should have the confidence of going to schools to learn. Instead of focusing on education, EPS has chosen to peddle porn and is leading the charge to undermine parents in Oklahoma.”
The case went to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, which sided with Edmond Public Schools and allowed the books to remain on library shelves.
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The list goes on. In 2023, Walters reportedly emailed some Oklahoma lawmakers pornographic images, claiming they were available in schools.
“Don’t just send me a bunch of graphic, sexually explicit photos without where it came from, or what did they do? That’s kind of the problem I got with it,” state Rep. Mark McBride (R) told the local Fox outlet.
