Broadway veteran Denee Benton, while presenting an award to a Florida teacher at the Tony Awards, drew cheers from the acting community's stars while taking a jab at Gov. Ron DeSantis over his fight against the "woke" culture in his state and nationwide, calling him Florida's "grand wizard."
"I am certain that the current Grand Wizard, I'm sorry, excuse me, governor of my home state of Florida will be changing the name of this following town immediately," Benton, a native of Eustis, Florida, who has been nominated for a Tony in the past, told the audience while using the term referring to a leader from the Ku Klux Klan, reports Florida Politics.
Her comment came while she was presenting the 2023 Excellence in Theater Education Award to Jason Zembuch Young, a teacher from Plantation, Florida.
The Never Back Down super PAC, which backs DeSantis' race for the GOP presidential nominee, slammed "liberal elites" after Benton's commentary, and said they "can't stand how effective Ron DeSantis is at defeating their attempts to sexualize and indoctrinate your children."
Newsmax has reached out to DeSantis' office for comment.
DeSantis has drawn fire from Broadway and Hollywood for his battles with Disney, the Parental Rights in Education act, and changes to the curriculum in Florida's schools, reports Newsweek.
The Human Rights Commission (HRC) recently issued a "state of emergency" over the number of bills being introduced nationally focused on transgender and non-binary youth, and has aimed in particular at DeSantis, accusing him of "weaponizing his position as a lawmaker to target LGBTQ+ families, Black and brown Floridians, immigrants and private businesses."
DeSantis, speaking at a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Saturday, promised a return to economic stability in the United States and an end to the "woke ideology" that has become prevalent in today's society.
"That means we have no choice but to wage a war on woke ideology, and we're going to do that," he said at the rally. "Don't tell me that a man can get pregnant. OK? That is not true. And when we have a society that indulges in that, if you can't even get that right, how are you going to get these bigger things right? Woke affects people's lives. Woke ideology takes over the economy with things like ESG [environmental, social, governance] policies, and the average American becomes poorer as a result of that."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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