Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt vetoed funding last week for the state’s public television network, a decision he says was triggered in part by content he has deemed “indoctrination” of children.
Calling the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority an “outdated system,” Stitt said in an interview with Fox News Digital, “The big question is why are we spending taxpayer dollars to prop up or compete with the private sector and run television stations? And then when you go through all of the programing that’s happening, the indoctrination, the over-sexualization of our children, it’s just really problematic, and it doesn’t line up with Oklahoma values.”
An OETA spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.
But Stitt’s move signals a potential new move in the culture wars, which has seen conservative communities move to ban books from school and public libraries over content they find objectionable. Stitt’s office has pointed out material it has found objectionable, pointing to a segment of Let’s Learn in that featured Lil Miss Hot Mess reading the book, The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish.
Ken Busby, a board member of Friends of OETA, told local KTUL that not the governor’s effort was to try to dictate content. He said that those decisions should not be “because one person or one body says, ‘Hey, we think you should look at the world differently.’ We’re not doing it that way. We’re doing it based on those we serve.”
More to come.