Denée Benton's poorly timed Tonys moment

by Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder

I need to preface this piece with a couple of things in order for this piece not to get twisted with fictional narratives.

The first is that I am a massive Denée Benton fan. She’s incredibly talented, and I cannot wait to see what’s in store for her for the rest of her career.

The other is that I am not a fan of Ron DeSantis. I think what he’s done in Florida is demonstrable, and I’m concerned about the ramifications of his decisions. I also do not want him ever to become President of the United States.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s discuss what this article is really about.

At the Tony Awards, Ms. Benton made some news with her comments while presenting the Excellence in Theatre Education Award from Carnegie Mellon University.

"Hi, I'm Denée Benton, actor and proud CMU alum," she said from the United Palace stage in New York City. "Earlier tonight, CMU and the Tony Awards presented the 2023 Excellence in Theatre Education Award. And while I am certain that the current Grand Wizard — I’m sorry, excuse me, governor of my home state of Florida…," Benton began before being interrupted with cheers and applause.

That became one of the, if not the most, talked about moments of the entire night. And while I agree with her statement, I absolutely do not think it was appropriate to do so during the ceremony.

While I think it is fine to make political statements during awards acceptance speeches, I do feel there is a certain way they should be done and at specific moments. Doing it while honoring an educator is not the right time.

First of all, it just causes an incredible distraction and takes away headlines from more worthy moments. Secondly, especially with the way political discussions are had right now, this puts both the Tony Awards and Carnegie Mellon University in the crosshairs of Ron DeSantis supporters and other right-wing fanatics. It doesn’t help when both of their logos are directly behind her when she makes that statement.

Also, given the state of education and the jobs of teachers in Florida and the country as a whole, statements like this don’t help.

I fully understand why she made that comment. In recent news, the NAACP announced a travel advisory for Florida, given some of their current policy decisions. Remember, this governor banned African American studies from schools and made it legal for motorists to hit protesters with their cars in the wake of the George Floyd protests in support of racial justice and police accountability.

When you add all of that to his anti-LGBTQ+ crusade, I do think her statement was warranted.

But she is also a public figure with a strong social media following. She has over 48,000 followers on Instagram. She could easily have made such a comment on there. While it might not have had the same impact that it would have been said on the Tony Awards, it also wouldn’t take away attention from an extraordinary educator who is being honored at that moment.

I thought, overall, this year‘s Tony Awards were a triumph. In addition to strong performances, we saw historic victories, and there were surprise wins. We also saw some excellent acceptance speeches that will surely inspire generations of future theatrical artists. It’s a shame that Ms. Benton’s comment will be mentioned alongside of them.