House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, pictured May 8 at the state Capitol, said his investigation into alleged images on state Superintendent Ryan Walters' office TV discovered a "bizarre accident." (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice)
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma’s House speaker said Tuesday a “bizarre accident” likely caused images of nude women to appear on state Superintendent Ryan Walters’ office TV.
Two law enforcement agencies said Tuesday that they are still investigating.
Walters recently had a Samsung TV installed in his office that, when powered on, automatically displayed the Samsung TV Plus Channel 1204 (Movie Hub Action), House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, said in a news release.
Hilbert said he learned Tuesday morning from Samsung that the channel was airing the 1985 film “The Protector” followed by the 2017 film “The Foreigner” during the timeframe when two members of the Oklahoma State Board of Education reported seeing the explicit images during a private portion of their July 24 meeting.
Descriptions of scenes in the “The Protector” are consistent with what board members reported seeing on Walters’ TV, Hilbert said. The film also matches images of a doctor, a nurse and a white lab coat that Walters told Hilbert he saw when he turned around toward the TV screen, according to the speaker’s release.
Walters previously said the board members’ allegations were “categorically false” and suggested it was a set-up by Gov. Kevin Stitt, whose appointees made the claims. His office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hilbert said he and the Office of Management and Enterprise Services investigated the matter. He contacted a government affairs specialist at Samsung to request what aired on that channel during the time and date of the meeting, he said.
The cause of the images, Hilbert said, seems to be the TV’s default display, not an intentional act by Walters or his staff. A planned conspiracy is also “highly unlikely,” he said.
“In my opinion, the most plausible explanation for what occurred that day is that the television, which had only been in the superintendent’s office for fewer than two months, automatically launched Samsung’s free streaming service and began playing a film that contained explicit content, without anyone in the room realizing it at the time,” Hilbert said. “This information seems to vindicate both the state superintendent as well as the two board members.”
The two board members, Becky Carson and Ryan Deatherage, did not immediately return requests for comment Tuesday afternoon.
The Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation are still investigating the matter, representatives of both agencies confirmed.
The Senate president pro tem’s office didn’t immediately comment on Hilbert’s report.
Barbara Hoberock contributed to this report.
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