DeSantis Plays 'Pornographic' Video of Books Removed from School Libraries, It Was Too Graphic for the News
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis got help from an unlikely source in his seemingly never-ending fight against the indoctrination of minors — the establishment media.
During a news conference Wednesday in Tampa, DeSantis, presumed by many to be a potential 2024 GOP presidential candidate, shared a graphic video to illustrate the presence of sexually explicit books in Florida schools.
The governor displayed the material as part of an effort to “set the record straight, debunking the mainstream media, unions and leftist activists’ hoax” about the “‘book ban’ hoax,” DeSantis’ office said in a news release.
So graphic were these images — again, readily available to schoolchildren in the Sunshine State — that Twitter slapped a warning on one Florida outlet’s coverage of them.
NEW: Our coverage of Florida school books shown to children, released by Gov. Ron DeSantis at a press conference today, has been marked “sensitive content” by @Twitter pic.twitter.com/jwuC8GPvV6
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) March 8, 2023
But the social media platform still allowed the content to be shared with those who wished to see it.
That wasn’t the case with WFLA-TV in Tampa, which deemed the material so explicit that it pulled the video of the news conference from the airwaves.
The NBC affiliate apparently did so at the behest of reporter Mahsa Saeidi.
Saeidi said on Twitter that she asked for the feed to go down because she doesn’t “show sexually explicit content” and all “questionable material must be reviewed.”
Yes, I did ask the feed go down for the warning – I don’t show sexually explicit content — questionable material must be reviewed.
— MAHSA SAEIDI, ESQ.🕵🏼 مهسا (@MahsaWho) March 8, 2023
Well. Yes. Nobody should be disputing Saeidi’s account that “sexually explicit content” shouldn’t be made readily available to the masses — let alone schoolchildren.
Taryn Fenske, DeSantis’ communications director, tweeted the video that the governor showed, asking the very salient question of why such sexually explicit material is OK for children but not OK to air on television.
The video shows graphic depictions of oral sex and gay sex from books that had been available to children before they were removed. It should not be controversial to suggest such books have no place in Florida public schools.
And yet, if you’ve been keeping a moderate eye on DeSantis, you know the liberal media is treating him as the new leader of the Third Reich for wanting to remove sexually explicit content from schools.
In fact, it hasn’t even been a full week since far-left comedian and late-night host John Oliver dedicated the majority of the latest episode of his HBO show “Last Week Tonight” to demonizing the governor for a litany of laughable faults (how dare the pro-life DeSantis sign a 15-week abortion ban) — including the oh-so-sinister decision to remove the above material.
WARNING: The following video contains language the viewer may find offensive.
The entire segment, an abomination masquerading as humor, isn’t worth the 25-minute runtime. But this writer still combed through the humorless video so you don’t have to and can confirm one thing: Not once did Oliver even attempt to cover the graphic content available in some of these books.
The reason is pretty simple: There’s nothing to justify. If parents don’t want their children exposed to sexually graphic content, that’s it. There’s nothing more to say.
JUST IN: DeSantis warns against agenda to bring sexuality into young grade schools
“To see some of that stuff in there? I think most parents would say ‘absolutely not.'” pic.twitter.com/iAzSBr3bT8
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) March 8, 2023
“We believe in the rights of parents to be involved in the education of their children and therefore have enacted curriculum transparency legislation, so that the parents know what books are being used in the classroom, what books do their kids have access to, and then they have procedures where they can say, ‘Wait a minute’ – you know, some of the stuff you saw up there – ‘that is pornographic,” DeSantis said on Wednesday. “Why would we have that in a media center with 10-year-old students?
“It’s just wrong.”
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
