Actor Ed O’Neill has played many roles. He was a losing presidential candidate in season six of “The West Wing”, but eventually became vice president on the show. O’Neal would have played anti-feminist, depressed suburban shoe salesman Al Bundy, a former high school football star, in “Married… with Children.” Represented a prospective Trump voter. there is no mention of him Jay Pritchett on “Modern Family” Who supported his gay son and was married to a Colombian immigrant, who probably wouldn’t be a MAGA cultist.
In real life, O’Neal campaigned for barack obama in his hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, in 2008, and Joe spoke in support of Biden At the virtual 2020 Ohio Democratic Party Convention. So it should come as no surprise that when Youngstown State University’s Board of Trustees chose election-denying, Trump-supporting GOP Rep. Bill Johnson to become its new president, O’Neill called it “a slap in the face.” Agreed.
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O’Neill attended Youngstown State, where he was a defensive lineman on its football team, but left when he was hired for the position before graduating. a undrafted free agent By the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1969. O’Neal was cut during training camp, where the rookie class included defensive linemen “Mean” Joe Greene and LC Greenwood.steel curtain” Kudos. After this O’Neal started pursuing an acting career.
In light of this, it was a great honor for him when he received an honorary doctorate from Youngstown State in 2013, but now the actor says he intends to give the honorary degree back in protest of Johnson’s appointment as president . Johnson not only voted to overturn the results of the presidential election hours after the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, but Recently supported Trump’s presidential candidacy Despite the former president facing four criminal indictments on 91 charges. O’Neill said in an interview Tuesday night on MSNBC’s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell”:
“I was very disappointed when I heard about this decision. I honestly couldn’t believe it. ….We are going with someone who has no prior experience in higher education.
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“He’s a pro-choice denier and he’s not the biggest fan of the gay community. He is anti-election. He’s just a polarizing far right bigot. …Faculty, students, alumni – they don’t want anyone like this.
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“I was very proud [the honorary degree], but I can’t keep it. Now it means nothing to me. That a university would do something like this is a slap in the face to all of us. …I’m giving it back. I just have to find the right way to do it. I want everyone to know I’m doing this.”
Johnson is expected to assume his position as Youngstown State president early March. The university has over 11,000 undergraduate and graduate students.
One positive thing about Johnson taking over at Youngstown State is that he will leave his position House seat on January 21, thereby reducing the GOP’s already slim majority in the House. Johnson’s departure will leave the House with 219 Republicans, 213 Democrats and three vacancies.
Republican Governor Mike DeWine announced that a special election would be held to succeed Johnson in eastern Ohio’s deep-red 6th Congressional District. Will happen on 11th June, with the primary scheduled to coincide with the regular March 19 statewide primary. District Donald Trump got support 64-35 In 2020.
In his MSNBC interview, O’Neill decried the “secrecy” in the board’s decision to appoint the Republican congressman as head of the university, including the failure to announce whether there were any other candidates for the position. Are under consideration.
In November, donors, alumni, and students were shocked when Johnson’s appointment was announced by the Board of Trustees. At that time, O’Neill announced that he would return his honorary degree, Described Johnson’s appointment as “disgraceful” And saying he was going to start referring to the school as “Trump U.”
According to the website, a major donor to Youngstown State, Phantom Fireworks owner Bruce Zoldan, who gave $5 million to finance a new student center, said he would stop donating to the university if Johnson became president. Have planned to do. Ideastream Public Media. Zoldan called it “disgraceful” to the university and community that “an election denier” was appointed “with no background…to lead an institution of faculty and students from diverse backgrounds.”
The Ohio Capital Journal reported in November:
Hundreds of students, alumni and staff signed a letter Asked YSU not to elect Johnson and to begin a presidential search again with involvement of the university community.
“The Board’s refusal to engage the YSU community in its decision-making violates core values of transparency, accountability, and democratic participation.” Read the letter. “The fact that Johnson’s positions are highly controversial – and directly relevant to the diverse interests and identities of YSU’s student body – increases the need for public scrutiny of his candidacy.”
The Capital Journal quoted Johnson as saying at a press conference following his appointment:
“We are not hiring any politician. We are here to educate people, not preach to them. …Everyone leaves their political and ideological beliefs at home, just like I did in the Air Force. Exactly like you’re asking me to do here. Everyone has got goosebumps because they think I will bring my politics here.
The Capital Journal said Johnson will receive an annual salary of $410,000, more than double his Annual salary of $174,000 for a House member,
In his MSNBC interview, O’Neill recalled his 2013 commencement speech to graduates when he accepted an honorary doctorate. He recalled telling the graduates that “You have accomplished something today that I was never able to do, which was graduate.”
Here is O’Neill’s 2013 commencement speech at the college. It’s very entertaining, as you might expect: