In DeSantisland, not only can teachers and principals be fired for acknowledging the existence of racism or LGBTQ, they can also be canned for teaching a lesson on the world's most revered artist, Michelangelo. But after a Florida charter school forced a principal to resign for exposing 6th graders to the world's most famous sculpture, "David" — for being "pornographic" — an Italian mayor chastised the school while honoring the principal with an invitation to Florence, where the marble masterpiece is located.
"A Florida teacher was forced to quit for showing students photos of Michelangelo's David. Mistaking art for pornography is just ridiculous," said Florence mayor Dario Nardella (see tweet below).
"I will personally invite the teacher to Florence to give her recognition on behalf of the city. Art is civilization and whoever teaches it deserves respect," the mayor said.
Meanwhile, the director of the Galleria dell'Accademia, where David is housed, pointed out the sheer ignorance of DeSantis-style rhetoric. "To think that David could be pornographic means truly not understanding the contents of the Bible, not understanding Western culture and not understanding Renaissance art," said Cecilie Hollberg, according to The Hill.
From The Hill:
Tallahassee Classical School principal Hope Carrasquilla resigned after the school board reportedly told her to step down or be fired. One parent had complained that the material shown to the sixth-grade art class was pornographic, and two others said they wanted to be notified of the lesson beforehand.
Carrasquilla told the Associated Press that she is "very honored" by the invitation to Italy.
The Florence museum housing the statue has also invited parents and students from the charter school to visit amid shock among Italians over the U.S. controversy.
