The Tony Awards were held Sunday night and televised live on CBS and Paramount+. I did not watch the show but a tweet caught my eye. It had to do with an actress and a Ku Klux Klan reference to Governor Ron DeSantis.

Actress Denee Benton was on stage to present the Excellence in Theatre Education Award from Carnegie Mellow University. The 2023 recipient of the award is Jason Zembuch Young of South Plantation High School in Plantation, Florida. In her remarks leading up to the award presentation, Benton noted that she is a CMU alum and that she is from Florida.

Then she launched into a random attack on the governor of her home state, because, of course, she did. He is a Republican running for president so he must be attacked in the most vile way on a broadcast going out to the country, and the world, via live television.

Actress Denée Benton refers to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) as "grand wizard" at the 76th Annual Tony Awards:

"While I am certain that the certain Grand Wizard — I'm sorry, excuse me — governor of my home state of Florida …" pic.twitter.com/m4O6aBK6KS

— The Recount (@therecount) June 12, 2023

“Earlier tonight, CMU and the Tony Awards presented the 2023 Excellence in Theatre Education Award. And while I am certain that the current Grand Wizard — I’m sorry, excuse me, governor — of my home state of Florida…,” she said, as the audience applauded. “I am sure that he will changing the name of this following town immediately. We were honored to present this award to the truly incredible and life-changing Jason Zembuch Young, enhancing the lives at students at South Plantation High School in Plantation, Florida.”

That’s right. Ron DeSantis is just like the leader of the Ku Klux Klan in the deranged minds of Broadway entertainers. The audience loved it. They laughed and cheered and applauded like she was so clever and funny. To at least half of the country, though, her remark will be received as tired and unimaginative. The laziest remark a Democrat voter can make about a Republican is that he or she is racist. Ramping that up to the level of calling a candidate for president the grand wizard of Ku Klux Klan is just normal dialogue, right? It’s disgusting.

As I write this post, Governor DeSantis has not responded. Why should he give such a non-worthy insult any attention. People like her that depend on attracting an audience to make a living depend on such attention. Let her remain in her bubble, making unfunny jokes to her fellow bubble-dwellers.

It should be noted that she wasn’t reading a ‘joke’ written for her by a professional writer, as there is an ongoing writers strike in place. The show must go on, though, and in order not to be accused of crossing a picket line, the Tony Award organizers struck a deal with the Writers Guild of America (WGA) to do the show without a script. In exchange, the WGA promised not to picket the event.

Benton’s credits include Broadway shows – Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, Hamilton and Into the Woods. She also has TV credits that include HBO’s The Gilded Age.

The Independent, based in the U.K., did a live blog of the award ceremony. One entry describing the ugly slur lodged against the governor was this:

Hamilton star Denée Benton just called Governor Ron DeSantis “the current Grand Wizard of Florida”.

The Grand Wizard was, of course, the national leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

Wow, that is punchy! The Tony Awards crowd loves it though.

Punchy, indeed.

This guy with BuzzFeed got all excited about her remarks:

Denée Benton WENT THERE and called out Ron DeSantis omg

“While I’m certain that the current Grand Wizard — I’m sorry. Excuse me — governor of my home state of Florida will be changing the name of this following town (Planation, Florida) immediately…”#TonyAwards pic.twitter.com/vju407GzHm

— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) June 12, 2023

When people tell you who they are, believe them. When Democrats call Republicans racist, a personal attack, because of policy differences, they give away who they truly are.

There will be plenty more of this as DeSantis continues to be a top contender for the Republican nomination for president and maintains his stellar record as a conservative Republican governor in Florida. The ugliness at the Tony Awards reminded me of a post I wrote when I covered the 2018 Tony Awards. Actor Robert DeNiro walked out and before he did his presentation, he just yelled out, “F**k Trump!” like it was the thing to do. The audience reacted the same as the one Sunday night. They went wild with applause, cheering, and laughter. DeNiro flexed his muscles as the audience cheered, as though he was some kind of strong man.

Thing haven’t changed since 2018. America is still deeply divided and there is little common decency in what were once events that everyone could enjoy. Politics has contaminated every aspect of our lives.