Joe Scarborough nearly sent Morning Joe off the rails cracking jokes about gay Republicans in the Senate supporting so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bills.
Morning Joe on Wednesday discussed the story of Jenna Barbee, the Florida teacher who is currently being investigated by the state’s Department of Education for showing her students a Disney movie with a gay character in it. Barbee showed the PG-rated film Strange World to her class for a lesson about environmentalism, but because the movie includes a gay character, she was reported by a parent and placed under investigation for allegedly violating Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Bill (known by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” Bill).
Scarborough initially mocked the media’s hysterical reaction to the bills, before criticizing their expansion to include high school students. He asked when parents should expect their kids to have sex education in school — if not in high school. Al Sharpton spoke of meeting gay people through various walks of life when Scarborough interjected with a curveball.
“By the way, you want to meet some gay people?” he said. He smirked while the panel giggled and Sharpton warned him “don’t say it” through laughter.
“Go to the Republican caucus meeting in the United States Senate!” Scarborough blurted out.
“Oh, Joe,” Mika Brzezinski sighed.
Scarborough continued:
I’m just saying, they are throughout the Republican Party in South Carolina! Everywhere I go, it’s out there. People are smirking, but I’m saying, I’m not outing anybody, but I’m just saying there are gay people all around, so don’t act like ‘Oh my God! There’s gay people in this movie, we’ve got to fire teachers now!’ It’s a great question, and I’m not saying this as a negative thing at all. I would like to know, does Ron DeSantis not have any gay people working on his staff? Does the Republican Party of Florida not have any gay people working in their staff? Do Republican elected officials not have gay people? Yes they do. I know they do.
Scarborough did not mention any Senate Republicans by name, though he did single out South Carolina. There have long been rumors — pushed by his critics and decried as homophobic — that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is secretly gay.
Watch above via MSNBC.
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