PA school board cancels gay actor's talk citing his "lifestyle"

Watch the video as openly gay actor Maulik Pancholy, best known for his part on 30 Rock was disinvited from speaking at a middle school anti-bullying assembly. Newly elected Moms For Liberty school board member Kelly Potteiger voiced concerns about his "political activism" and what two school board members called his “lifestyle".

The Southen Poverty Law Center has designated Moms for liberty as an antigovernment extremist group due in part to its anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender identity, and anti-inclusive curriculum and political activism.

Donald Trump held a rally at Cumberland Valley High School during his 2016 campaign for president one board member recalled during the meeting. There is surely nothing political about that. Yet one gay man, a renowned actor and author speaking to students about bullying, empathy, and compassion would be misconstrued as political activism.

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, took to Threads to express his concern and to urge school board members to reconsider their unanimous decision.

"This decision is deeply wrong and affirms exactly why it's so important to have a conversation about bullying.""This is a learning experience for the children’s education & perspective, and I’m calling on the Cumberland Valley School District Board to reverse their vote and let maulikpancholy speak."

Post by @senfettermanpa

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Pancholy’s scheduled appearance at Mountain View Middle School in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, was unanimously overturned by the district’s school board in a public meeting on April 15.

“If you research this individual, he labels himself as an activist, he is proud of his lifestyle and I don’t think that should be imposed upon our students at any age,” board member Bud Shaffner said at the meeting.

Trisha Comstock, a former parent at the school, started a Change.org petition to reinstate the empathy and anti-bullying assembly.

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Is Chaya Raichik Responsible for Dozens of Hospital and School Bomb Threats?

Four police force representatives believe that the social media posts by Raichik are responsible for the bomb threats at the institutions that they are tasked to protect. But because of the nature of the threats they lack proof. However, the timing of the threats and the 2859 deleted tweets by libsoftiktok make Raichik highly suspect.

In an emailed response to Vice, as reported by Them, Raichik denied that she or her followers were in any way culpable for the roughly 20 bomb threats documented in the investigation. Yet the meteoric rise in anti-LGBTQ+ violence in the U.S. and abroad has been repeatedly connected to false accusations of pedophilia and sexual abuse pushed by Raichik and others. Still, Raichik’s accounts on X, formerly Twitter, remain in good standing, and she counts Elon Musk among her followers.

In a 2024 media post, Raichik falsely claimed that no one had been arrested for bomb threats that she felt she was being "blamed" for.

The U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts announced in a 2023 press release that Catherine Leavy, 37, pleaded guilty to one count of making a false bomb threat and one count of intentionally conveying false or misleading information that a bomb was on the way to Boston Children’s Hospital. U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin scheduled sentencing for March 19, 2024. Leavy was initially arrested and charged by criminal complaint in September 2022 and subsequently indicted by a federal grand jury in October 2022.

Thank you @AOC for calling out @Twitter for supporting Chaya Raichik / Libs of TikTok even after incitement of threats against Boston Children’s Hospital by wielding misinformation — & calling the GOP “the party that cannot pick on anybody their own size”. pic.twitter.com/YBLyCARwmz

— Michael O’Brien (@DrOBrienMD) February 8, 2023

Before Leavy’s Sept. 2022 arrest by the FBI, The Rolling Stones reports, the Boston Children’s bomb threat became a controversial news item with popular conservative and right-wing commentators online, who insinuated that the threat was a hoax created by the mainstream media. These talking points emerged after an article from The Washington Post’s Taylor Lorenz reported that targeted posts from the Libs of TikTok account on X (formerly Twitter) had caused increased harassment for staff at the Boston Children’s Hospital. Much of the harassment centered around a tweet from Libs of TikTok owner Chaya Raichik, who said that Boston Children’s performed hysterectomies on girls under 18, a claim the hospital denied to the Post. Raichik, Daily Wire host Matt Walsh, and Chris Rufo of the Manhattan Institute posted tweets insinuating the threat was fake, even accusing Lorenz of coordinating it.

Leavy faces up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to half a million dollars. Her sentencing has been scheduled for March 19, 2024.

Chaya Raichik, are you aware of the one thing that truly makes the United States great? Our Lady Justice never rests until justice is done.