Comedian hits back at school board that banned LGBTQ flags with satirical speech
Walter Masterson at the Connetquot school board meeting. (Walter Masterson/Twitter)
A progressive comedian has hit back against a district school board’s anti-LGBTQ+ flag policy with a hilarious satirical speech.
Comedian Walter Masterson attended a board meeting for the Coneetquot School District in New York on Tuesday (11 October) where he parodied common Republican viewpoints.
The board found itself under fire from pro-LGBTQ+ activists after a teacher from Connetquot High School was reprimanded for refusing to take down a Progress Pride flag in her classroom.
I trolled the school board meeting at Connetquot after they had a teacher remove the Progress Pride flag. pic.twitter.com/2gleJ73ThX
— Walter Masterson (@waltermasterson) October 13, 2022
Donning the stars and stripes and wearing a camo baseball cap, Masterson told committee members that he loved freedom of speech, “except when it comes to Pride flags in schools.”
“There’s a whole list of books I want to ban from the school library,” he sarcastically continued. “I want to ban kneeling in football games.
“The point is, we need to protect our children, which is why we need more security in our schools. We need cops patrolling the hallway. We should also hire cops as teachers. And the students, they should also be cops, like in 21 Jump Street.”
Masterson posted the hilarious clip in a Thursday (13 October) Twitter post with the caption: “I trolled the school board meeting at Connetquuot after they had a teacher remove the Progress Pride flag.”
Several users in the comments pointed out that the parody might have been a bit too subtle for some of the audience members, proving that nothing is too outlandish for Republicans.
“I like how the kids were laughing at it, but the MAGA adults were clapping and nodding their heads,” one user said, while another pointed out that it was “so hard to tell whether the crowd responded because they got the joke or unwittingly agreed with the rhetoric.”
“Sorry, you are going to need to make it less believable for us,” another said.
The speech mirrors a similarly satirical stunt pulled by LGBTQ+ comic Joe Lycett, who sarcastically said he was “very right-wing” during an episode of Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
Connetquot School District is under investigation after Pride flag removal
In response to the Connetquot school incident, New York governor Kathy Hochul ordered a human rights investigation of the school district.
Hochul was informed of a potential violation of the Human Rights Law by Dr. David Kilmnick according to Long Island Press.
In a letter sent to the governor, he explained that the teacher was first asked to take down the Progress Pride flag in September, but refused.
She was then brought into the principal’s office and took down the flag on 6 October. Kilmnick notes that no other teacher had been asked to take flags down.
Kilmnick further added that the actions were a “clear violation” of the Dignity for All Students Act, and that he looks forward “to an immediate investigation” into the incident.
“Gov. Hochul is committed to protecting the human rights of New Yorkers, and has directed the Division of Human Rights to investigate the potential violations,” a spokesperson for Hochul’s office said.
