The principal and a teacher at a high school in the foothills north of Phoenix have been suspended after creating and performing a skit based on a parody of President Donald Trump and his campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway.
The site of satire is Boulder Creek High School in the master-planned community of Anthem, Arizona, reports Phoenix CBS affiliate KPHO. Jay Kopas, a U.S. history teacher and Boulder Creek High’s athletic director, wore a baseball cap and played the part of Trump.Boulder Creek High principal Lauren Sheahan played the part of Conway. (And, for the record, she is an absolute dead ringer for the Trump campaign manager.)
Kopas, as Trump, said things such as “keep those moron parents and weak and loser students out.” Sheahan, as Conway, said things such as “some of his best friends are short.” There were bits on building a wall and lighthearted quips about the school board and about some teachers.
(You can watch the video in its entirety below.)
Kopas and Sheahan did not perform the seven-minute skit for students — or show it to students. Instead, they taped their routine and sent it to faculty members. Someone leaked the video to some parents. It quickly went viral, and ended up on YouTube. Much local outrage ensued.
“I don’t think it’s funny at all. Actually, I’m completely offended by it,” Dawn Rundle, the parent of a Boulder Creek High student, daughter told KPHO. “My first reaction was to go over to Boulder Creek and talk to Mrs. Sheahan personally and ask her what her reasoning was behind that.”
An unidentified parent launched a Change.org petition entitled “Make Boulder Creek Great Again” which demands “immediate resignations from both Lauren Sheahan and Jay Kopas.”
The petition reads, in part:
“The Anthem community is outraged by this video and its insults. The administration of Boulder Creek High School have [sic] no right to make a video like this using tax payers [sic] money by using on campus media equipment and making the video on campus. This is meant to be funny but has offend [sic] a large majority of the community not to mention a complete embarrassment to Boulder Creek High School and to the Deer Valley School District. Sheahan and Kopas need to be held accountable for their actions.”