A Broadway actor is slamming Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), calling him the “current grand wizard” of the Sunshine State, while appearing at the Tony Awards.
Denée Benton took to the stage Sunday at the 76th annual awards ceremony, which honors productions in New York City’s famed theater district.
“Earlier tonight, [Carnegie Mellon University] and the Tony Awards presented the 2023 Excellence in Theater Education Award,” Benton, the star of Broadway’s “Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812,” told the crowd at the ceremony.
“And while I am certain that the current grand wizard — I’m sorry, excuse me, governor, of my home state of Florida will be changing —” Benton said, before pausing with a laugh as the audience burst into applause at the Ku Klux Klan-inspired slur aimed at DeSantis, a 2024 GOP presidential candidate.
“I’m sure that he’ll be changing the name of this following town immediately,” Benton continued with a grin as she recognized the education award’s winner, a teacher in Plantation, Fla.
A spokesman from the governor’s office didn’t immediately return ITK’s request for comment about Benton’s remark.
Although the Tony-nominated performer didn’t cite the motivation behind the slight, the NAACP has issued a travel advisory for the state of Florida over policies seen as anti-Black.
“Anybody that has been following what’s been happening in Florida understands that it’s essentially become a hostile territory for Black people in the state,” Cliff Albright, co-founder and executive director of Black Voters Matter, said last month.
DeSantis faced criticism earlier this year after his administration rejected an Advanced Placement African American studies course from being taught in Florida schools. DeSantis’s administration said the course’s content was “inexplicably contrary to Florida law” and “significantly [lacked] educational value.”
“We want education, not indoctrination,” DeSantis said in January about the move.
It’s not the first time an entertainer has made headlines with a political attack from the Tonys stage.
In 2018, Robert De Niro received a standing ovation after repeatedly declaring “f— Trump,” in a criticism of the then-president.