The Tony Awards celebrating the "best" of Broadway on CBS became a LGBT rally on Sunday night. The oh-so-progressive cheered wildly like they were all in Stephen Colbert's late-night audience.
First and foremost, actress Denee Benton -- currently in the HBO series The Gilded Age -- appeared to promote an Outstanding Theatre Education award sponsored by Carnegie-Mellon University (she's an alumna). The award went to a drama teacher in Plantation, Florida, so Benton couldn't resist joking that Gov. Ron DeSantis was a "Grand Wizard" of the Ku Klux Klan -- like she's too young to know the KKK were Democrats. The joke was he would rename "Plantation" -- because he wants to eliminate black history, get it?
On the Tony Awards on CBS, actress Denee Benton announces award for outstanding HS theatre teacher. She wisecracked "I am certain the current Grand Wizard -- I'm sorry...governor of my home state of Florida" (wild screams, applause) will rename the town Plantation, Florida. pic.twitter.com/YsceE5B8QR
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) June 12, 2023
Michael Arden, who directed a revival of the musical Parade, about the lynching of a Jewish man in Georgia, had to imply that somehow this could still happen today, with the idea that some people are less deserving of justice: "This is a belief that is at the core of antisemitism, of white supremacy, of homophobia, of transphobia, intolerance of any kind. We must come together, we must battle this. It is so, so important, or else we are doomed to repeat the horrors of our history."
On the Tony Awards on CBS, Best Musical Director winner Michael Arden: "To our beautiful trans non-binary queer youth, know that your queerness is what makes you beautiful and powerful. Everyone in this room sees you and needs you and will fight alongside you, and we will win!" pic.twitter.com/1jjPmpbLFw
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) June 12, 2023
CBS used the silence button for one of his sentences: "Growing up, I was called the F-word more times than I could remember. And all I can say now is I'm a faggot with a Tony!"
Websites like Entertainment Weekly picked as one of their "Best" of show highlights two non-binary actors winning Tonys. The first dose of "history" was Alex Newell, who appeared on several episodes as a trans teen on Glee on Fox and had a regular role in NBC's Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist.
On the Tony Awards on CBS, Alex Newell wins first Tony for an openly non-binary actor: “Thank you for seeing me, Broadway! I should not be up here. As a queer, nonbinary, fat, black little baby from Massachusetts." [Applause] pic.twitter.com/hqp0jyRKv5
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) June 12, 2023
But it wasn't long before there was a second male winner with a dress (well, and some pants, too), J. Harrison Ghee, who invoked God and his gifts:
2nd non-binary Tony winner of the night, J. Harrison Ghee: "My mother raised me to understand that my gifts that God gave me were not about me....For every trans, non-binary, gender-nonconforming human who ever was told you couldn't be, you couldn't be seen, this is for you." pic.twitter.com/23Uazl9OZO
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) June 12, 2023
On the racial paranoia front, playwright Suzan-Lori Parks suggested the world doesn't like the existence of black people:
On the Tony Awards on CBS, playwright Suzan-Lori Parks celebrates her award by thanking her actors: "They played every night like there was no tomorrow. They showed up livin' large in a world that often does not the likes of us living -- at all!"
— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) June 12, 2023
Who wants them dead?? pic.twitter.com/LUGzVm9lI1
There is no "equal time" rule on CBS, where anyone gets to rebut race-based smears or say a discouraging word about LGBT orthodoxy.
