JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A recent episode of “The Daily Show,” an Emmy-award-winning show that satirizes the biggest news stories, focused on Northeast Florida.
Specifically, correspondent and co-host Michael Kosta spoke to a Clay County man who claimed to have challenged over 900 books in the school district’s library, leading to hundreds of removals.
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“You’re the Michael Jordan of book banning,” Kosta said to Bruce Friedman, a Clay County parent, in an episode of the show that aired on Thursday.
“In the last two years, I’ve challenged more than one book every calendar day,” Friedman said.
According to a recent report from the Florida Department of Education, Clay County pulled 287 books from its libraries, the most in the state.
“So why are you the arbiter?” Kosta asked.
“Blatant sexual activity and over-the-top grotesque, excessive profanity doesn’t belong in any of our schools,” Friedman said, adding later that his child is not allowed in the public school library.
Kosta, who mocked Friedman throughout the segment, said Friedman is so good at protecting his own child that he needs an even bigger challenge, “protecting other people’s kids.”
But other Clay County parents who spoke to “The Daily Show” took issue with his mission.
“So if some random person tells me that, ‘No, this is not how you should parent your children,’ I have a problem with that,” Gargi Chipalkatti said.
“They take issues of racism, discrimination, sexual assault, and they label them as pornographic, just because it makes it easier to remove the book,” said Stephana Ferrell with Florida Freedom To Read Project.
Julie Miller, a Clay County librarian and parent who sat down with Kosta, said she was also removed from the library after speaking out against book challenges.
News4JAX spoke to Freidman about book removals in November.
He said he has challenged books like “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” and a children’s “Star Wars” book and added that one of the books he challenged last school year that was removed was “A Clash of Kings,” by George R. R. Martin.
He provided News4JAX with an 11-page document showing the reasons why he wanted the book removed. This included references to paragraphs he thought were inappropriate and demonstrated things that included “porn, sex, violence, gore, profanity, references to kink, incest and beastly.”
He said those things could lead to “damaged souls.”
Earlier this year, the Clay County school district released a new library policy after years of controversy.
Also, earlier this year, DeSantis backtracked on a 2022 law making it easier to challenge school books when he signed a bill narrowing its focus. It limits the number of bans any one person can request.
DeSantis blamed liberal activists for abusing the law, not the citizens whose objections to certain books account for the majority of book removals from school libraries and classrooms.
PEN America, a group that fights book bans, issued a report Tuesday saying Florida is responsible for 72% of the books that have been pulled from the nation’s schools in the first half of the 2023-24 school year.
“It’s been mentioned that it might cost $100 to challenge a book. Would that deter you?” Kosta asked in the segment.
“Nothing is going to stop me,” Friedman responded.
