Oklahoma House Speaker Kyle Hilbert said in a Tuesday news release an incident involving allegations of nude images on State Superintendent Ryan Walters’ office television at a July State Board of Education meeting was a “bizarre accident,” according to a review.
According to a forensic analysis, the television showed Samsung’s Movie Hub Action channel when powered on. Hilbert contacted Samsung for a schedule of what aired during the board’s executive session and was told the 1985 R-rated film “The Protector” was on. The movie features scenes with nude women.
In a news release, Hilbert says Walters’ and the board members’ stories are therefore credible.
“The available evidence points to a bizarre accident involving a newly installed television defaulting to a pre-programmed channel,” Hilbert said in the release.
According to Hilbert, Walters told him he saw a doctor, a nurse and a white lab coat on the screen when he turned around during the meeting. That appears to conflict with a statement Walters released saying he had “no knowledge of what was on the TV screen during the alleged incident.”
A day after the board meeting, board members Ryan Deatherage and Becky Carson told NonDoc and The Oklahoman newspaper that during the executive session in Walters’ office, they witnessed images of nude women on a TV.
Board member Chris VanDenhende told The Tulsa World his back was to the TV, but confirmed Walters was asked to turn it off. Board member Michael Tinney also confirmed the accounts to News9.
An investigation inquiry was being led by the Office of Management and Enterprise Services, which referred it to the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office. Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna also formally requested the OSBI investigate as well.
In a press conference last week, Walters questioned if the board members who brought the allegations were instructed to lie about the incident at the direction of Gov. Kevin Stitt. He called for the members to resign “immediately in disgrace for the lies that they’ve told.”
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