Saturday, February 03, 2024

ANNALS OF DeSANTISTAN: New College of Florida dean of students performs comedy routine some call 'homophobic' (Sarasota Herald-Tribune)

Tiresome joke from the ex-lobbyist,  DAVID A. RANCOURT, whom Governor RONALD DION DeSANTIS has put in charge of students at the radically altered New College, where "owning the libs" and gracelessness are de rigeur.  Gotta love the classless defense by the PR man for New College: this was not a work of art, sweetheart.  RANCOURT was co-founder of Southern Strategy, with stinky State Senator JOHN THRASHER, whom Dull Republicans later installed as FSU President. THRASHER purported to represent St. Johns County, from a condo on the beach, when in truth and in fact, he lived in a Orange Park.  Vicious vacuous lobbyist varmints mucking up public education in Florida. 

Here's a partial list of DAVID A. RANCOURT's former lobbying clients:

1 800 Contacts

Advanced Disposal Services, Inc.

Aeralert US, LLC

American Managed Care, LLC

Amick Construction, Inc

Apple Computer, Inc

Asurion Corporation

BearingPoint, Inc

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Inc

Boca Raton Community Hospital, Inc

Brevard County

Capital Trust Agency

Caremark Rx, Inc

CVS/Caremark

City of Jacksonville

City of Orlando

Corrections Corporation of America

Covenant Services Group, The

Cox Target Media, Inc

Cypress Creek Partners LLC

Dominion Voting Systems, Inc

EdSouth

Ernst & Young LLP

Florida Atlantic University Foundation, Inc

Florida Cable Telecommunications Association, Inc

Florida State Alliance of YMCA

Florida Trucking Association

GL Homes

Infinity Software Development, Inc

Infrastructure Corporation of America

International Speedway Corporation

Johnson Controls, Inc

Kiewit Development Company

Kimbrough & Koach, LLP

Lake Webster, LLC

Land South Holdings, LLC

Loring Development, Inc

MCNA Dental Plans

Mentor Network, The

Millennium Settlements, Inc.

Mosaic Fertilizer, LLC

MotionPoint Corporation

Motorola

MRI Radiology Network dba UMRI

ODS Technologies, L.P. d/b/a TVG Network

Orthodontic Education Company

Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority

Paul Bradshaw, P.A.

Peoples Gas System, Inc

Post, Buckley, Schuh & Jernigan

Raytheon

Sacred Heart Health System, Inc

Senior Resource Alliance

SePRO Corporation

Shutts & Bowen LLP

South Broward Hospital District

Southern Environmental Solutions, Inc.

Southern Strategy Group, Inc

University of Florida Foundation, Inc

Vertical Intergration, Inc

Video Communications Southeast

Tampa Bay Devil Rays Ltd

Tampa Electric Company

TECO Energy, Inc

T-Rex Aqua Vista LLC

University of Central Florida Foundation, Inc.

Video Communications Southeast

Wachovia Corporation

Walt Disney World Company


 From Sarasota Herald Tribune:


New College of Florida dean of students performs comedy routine some call 'homophobic'

Steven Walker
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
David Rancourt, New College of Florida's dean of students, does a stand-up comedy routine at McCurdy's Comedy Theatre in downtown Sarasota. Some critics have called his jokes homophobic.

A recording of New College of Florida's dean of students making jokes about homosexual sex at a downtown Sarasota comedy club has circulated social media platforms, with some calling the jokes he made homophobic.

David Rancourt, a former lobbyist and now dean of students at New College of Florida, participated in what appeared to be a New College-sanctioned group comedy class at McCurdy's Comedy Theatre. In his seven-minute segment uploaded to YouTube on Jan. 25, he joked about his child self exposing his genitalia to a girl, a drill sergeant sticking a baton up his anus and native Amazonians forcing him and his Peace Corps battalion to have gay sex.

"I don't want to die. I don't know what 'bunga bunga' is, but give me bunga bunga," Rancourt said as part of a joke set-up. "So they took that man and they strapped him down on the tree over on the side, bent him over, and every man in the tribe" violated him, he continued, using coarse terms. "It was horrible, like the worst thing you can imagine."

David Rancourt

When asked for comment, New College spokesperson Nathan March expressed the college's support for Rancourt and the other students and faculty who performed during the comedy class.

"Cancel culture is over at New College. Comedy is a work of art, one that is reliant on our society’s tenets of free speech and free expression," March said. "New College supports its students, faculty and staff’s right to participate in artistic endeavors like a comedy performance, or any other civil exercising of free speech and free expression."

Several students have told the Herald-Tribune they feel a hostile environment at the college toward LGBTQ+ students.

The college has previously terminated an LGBTQ+ librarianabolished its Office of Outreach and Inclusive Excellenceabolished the college's Women's and Gender Studies programs, and removed the Pride LLC, a dorm for LGBTQ+ students to commune.

Before coming to New College, Rancourt was a founding partner of a lobbying firm and served in several capacities in Florida politics, such as a deputy chief of staff to former Gov. Jeb Bush and deputy secretary of state.

During his set, Rancourt also pointed out that a member of the college's board of trustees was in attendance at the show, and said he hoped that she was alright with his jokes.

New College President Richard Corcoran also participated in the comedy class, performing immediately after Rancourt. He joked that Rancourt was now the "former" dean of students, and pointed out the number of jokes Rancourt made targeted at the LGBTQ+ community.

"There's a lot of gay jokes there," Corcoran said. "I think he's trying to tell me something."

Some critics of New College took to social media to comment on Rancourt's stand-up routine.

"Not just homophobic jokes. Rape jokes....And referring to a little girl as a "b!$*#" as part of his set. To an audience of students," wrote Mike Palmieri, a New College alumnus.

A Twitter user named "FYREFestNCF", whose name references the Fyre Festival fraud scandal where organizers promised exorbitant amenities and artists for a music festival that never happened, also posted  to social media about Rancourt's stand-up routine. "When people tell you who they are, believe them," they wrote.

Follow Herald-Tribune Education Reporter Steven Walker on Twitter at @swalker_7. He can be reached at sbwalker@gannett.com.


2 comments:

Victoria said...

The deplorable and low life bigots among the faux religious whackos have nowhere to go but offending other people. All of this while Republicans in Congress attempt to sabotage and obstruct government to benefit the rich and usher in a new Gilded Age. Jesus would not be pleased with their fascism and hate speech.

Anonymous said...

So called conservative Republicans of the more fascist and religious fundamentalist orientation feel entitled to insult people and behave in an uncivilized manner and excuse this by claiming "first amendment rights" and "my beliefs." Yeah? Well what happens when you insult someone and they come across your head? Can someone then claim freedom of expression? Why not if you're justify abuse through supposed rights yourself?