A TV channel had to cut its live feed Wednesday after Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis read aloud a pornographic book kept in Florida schools, according to a reporter.
DeSantis held a press conference titled “Exposing the Book Ban Hoax” where he presented a five-minute-long video reading from books the administration has banned from classrooms in the state. The books include “Gender Queer,” which depicts masturbation and oral sex between girls, and “Flamer,” which describes explicit sex acts between boys. “Let’s Talk About It” is another book that explains to how men and women can masturbate, and shows how to perform anal sex.
“Some of the media had to cut their feed when books with graphic content were displayed that were found in K-12 school libraries,” DeSantis Press Secretary Bryan Griffin said on Twitter. (RELATED: DeSantis Blasts MSNBC After Anchor Falsely Claims He Is Prohibiting Kids From Learning About Slavery)
An investigative reporter at WFLA says she took down the TV feed when journalists were told the sexually explicit books would be read during the broadcast.
“When we were told sexually explicit content would be shown – we went down,” Mahsa Saeidi said. “I am not disputing that. I emailed my newsroom, concerned.”
Warning: This video contains pornographic images and content not suitable for children. If you can’t read these books at a school board meeting, should they be in a school? https://t.co/gHBoQh5eYa
— Taryn Fenske (@tarynfenske) March 8, 2023
Twitter has also given the live feed of the DeSantis press conference on the Florida school books a content warning, according to DeSantis War Room.
Florida teachers are now required to undergo training on how to vet instructional material and school library books. Librarians who take the training are told that no pornographic material will be allowed in the school library.
Corporate media has claimed that the DeSantis administration’s efforts to rid Florida educational institutions of “woke” studies amounts to censorship of perfectly reasonable materials. After the Florida Board of Education failed to approve a proposed pilot program of an AP African American Studies course, media claimed that DeSantis had banned the study of black history in the state.