Decatur’s school superintendent Gyimah Whitaker insists her husband Jason Whitaker’s bigoted podcast is not relevant to her work even though she had him produce the school’s podcast at his commercial recording studio.
Jason Whitaker clearly disagrees.
This week Jason Whitaker thanked his colleagues and fans for showing up at Decatur’s June 2 school board meeting (aka his wife Gyimah Whitaker’s office) to lobby in her defense.
It’s Jason Whitaker’s right to use his social media to cheer on and thumbs-up his wife. But there’s a reason Wife Guy is pejorative.
By aiming his podcast machine at Decatur he has obliterated his wife’s repeated assertion that her work is independent of her husband’s.
It wasn’t a very solid claim to begin with. By recording the school system’s podcast in Jason Whitaker’s commercial podcast studio for more than a year, the superintendent took the work of Decatur schools to the workplace of a loud and proud bigot. Gyimah Whitaker is the person who made Decatur schools a business partner of a man who repeatedly calls Muslim people “low-IQ” goat rapists, and who denies the humanity of trans people.
But Superintendent Whitaker can’t keep saying “my work has nothing to do with my husband’s work” while her husband is mobilizing his work colleagues and podcast listener(s) to show up at Decatur school board meetings and flood the board’s inboxes. The real Wife Guy move here would be for him to shut up.
Actually, she CAN keep saying that her work has nothing to do with her husband’s. She can say whatever she wants. But no one has to pretend to believe her anymore.
Also, some advice for Jason Whitaker’s friends: Don’t waste your time emailing the school board or speaking at our meetings. There’s very little indication the current board majority cares what anyone says about anything.