Arizona Republican Rep. Debbie Lesko was heckled by students and parents at a high school graduation ceremony on Friday, which prompted her to leave the stage.
‘I can deal with hecklers. But, I believe that the executive director of the school made a big mistake. Because I believe that he now taught all those graduates that if you heckle somebody, you win,’ Lesko told the Phoenix-based KJZZ News after the incident.
Lesko, a top Trump ally, spoke at the graduation ceremony for the Arizona Virtual Academy, with students complaining to KJZZ that she didn’t mention the graduates or their accomplishments.
Instead, the congresswoman polled the audience on political issues like school choice and federal student loan forgiveness.
She encouraged the audience to sign up for her newsletter and brought voter registration forms to the ceremony.
‘I have heard other commencement speakers make speeches, and they were just very motivating. Nothing to do with politics, or religion or anything. It was just about the graduates. And she seemed to not grasp that and not put that like in her speech at all,’ attendee Juliana Butler told KJZZ.
In a video posted online showing the end of her appearance, audience members can be heard shouting at the congresswoman ‘you need to go!’ and ‘there’s no place for this!’
‘Wow, no freedom of speech here,’ Lesko said in response.
‘Alright, well thank you, best of luck in your future, and God bless each and every one of you,’ the lawmaker added before walking offstage.
Parents and students continued to express disbelief as Lesko exited.
‘Get out of here, you embarrassed yourself,’ one man is heard saying. ‘Well, I hope that’s on video,’ a woman then said.
The academy’s administrator apologized to the audience after Lesko left, an attendee told KJZZ.
‘The students were visibly angry, and he was like, “Well, you know, your voice is being heard today,” and “We got your back,” was basically the message that they gave to the students,’ attendee Ethan Parr told KJZZ.
Lesko told KJZZ that the speech was meant to be interactive and she left the podium after the school’s administrator told her to change the speech.
She said she also delivered the same speech at a difference commencement ceremony earlier that day without complaint.