Board members say Walters office "TV incident" has left them deeply disturbed

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — Two Oklahoma State Board of Education members say they feel vindicated, but also disturbed after new claims from the House Speaker an incident in the State Superintendent's office last month was a "bizarre accident."

What happened?

An investigation was launched by the Oklahoma Office of Management & Enterprise Services on Monday, July 28 after state board member Becky Carson filed a complaint and spoke with media outlets about allegations of nude women on State Superintendent Ryan Walters office TV. Fellow board member Ryan Deatherage backed Carson's claims. The board members allege the content was shown during a closed doors executive session during a July 24 board meeting. They said the images showed nude women doing something involving a chiropractic table, and that after Carson confronted Walters, he turned the TV off. Carson’s complaint asked OMES to investigate Walters’s “computers, personal devices, and cell phones.”

What House Speaker Kyle Hilbert says

• House Speaker Kyle Hilbert says he spoke with State Superintendent Ryan Walters over the August 1 weekend of July 25 about the incident.
• State Superintendent Walters shared information with Hilbert about what he thought he saw on the screen when he turned around to turn it off during the meeting. Walters told Hilbert he believed the images were of a doctor and a nurse in a white lab coat. Walters did not share that same information when asked for comment from the media, or during a July 29 press conference.
• Hilbert says Walters assured him he would welcome a thorough investigation.
• Hilbert says a third-party cybersecurity company investigation included a key detail that caught his eye: “When initially powered on, the television displayed Samsung TV Plus Channel 1204 (Movie Hub Action).”
• July 31, Hilbert says he contacted a government affairs specialist with Samsung to request information on what aired on Channel 1204 during the time of the scheduled July 24 executive session.
• August 5, Hilbert says he received a response that the films airing during the timeframe were The Protector (1985) followed by The Foreigner (2017).
• The parental guidance summary for The Protector on IMDb says the film includes nudity.
• News 4 watched the movie and confirmed it contains several scenes that match the description given by board members, including one where a group of fully nude women work inside a factory packaging cocaine, some wearing only lab coats.

Law enforcement investigation

The Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office and OSBI both confirmed Tuesday their criminal investigations into the matter are not over, they have not reached any formal conclusions and investigators may make additional, or fewer findings than what Hilbert shared.

What are board members saying?

State Board of Education members Ryan Deatherage and Becky Carson shared a joint-statement with News 4 Wednesday responding to the allegations.

“We are grateful for the Speaker’s efforts to vindicate the board. What we saw on tv is content that would get the certificate of any teacher in this state revoked had it showed up on a classroom tv. Now we have to ask the question. Why did Superintendent Walters lie about the tv being connected to the internet and what he saw on the tv that day? He repeatedly called the board members liars and attempted to destroy our reputation. We are deeply disturbed by the events of the last week and a half, but we will continue to work for the students of Oklahoma.”

Ryan Deatherage & Becky Carson, State Board of Education members

What is Ryan Walters saying?

Walters office has not responded to News 4 inquiries about the matter, other than holding a July 29 press conference. During the press conference Walters lied, saying that he and his office had been cleared of wrongdoing. Walters also stated that what was playing on the TV during the meeting was cable news. Walters also accused the board members of constructing a lie to destroy his character, and alleged that Governor Kevin Stitt may have asked the board members to do so.

What are lawmakers saying?

Lawmakers on both side of the aisle have been minimal with what they've shared about the incident as the investigation unfolds. News 4 did speak with Rep. JJ Humphrey (R-Lane) and Rep. Forrest Bennett (D-Oklahoma City) Wednesday to weigh in. Both representatives disagreed on who is to blame for the coverage of the incident that has spanned nearly two weeks, but said they'd like to see the focus shift to addressing Oklahoma's rank as 50th in education.

Rep. Humphrey, a Republican, did also say he didn't agree with Hilbert's decision to release claims before a law enforcement investigation had concluded.

"You do not come out before the investigation's over with," said Humphrey. "You wait till investigations, when you get the actual report and then you come out and say, bam, here it is."