Just weeks after Josh Guillory came under fire for closing recreation centers that serve people of color, the Lafayette Parish Mayor-President is again facing criticism.
This time, it’s after Guillory appointed a woman who has made openly racist, sexist, and xenophobic remarks on Facebook – including liking a comment that said Walt Disneyworld was “nothing but a bunch of N lovers and queers.”
Connie Boyer was appointed to the Heymann Performing Arts & Frem Boustany Convention Center Advisory Commission by Mayor-President Guillory, according to multiple social media posts that began circulating on August 3.
After the post gained some traction, Mayor-President Guillory has allegedly rescinded her nomination, according to Stafford Barnett, who was one of the Lafayette residents who first shared the post.
The Advisory Commission is tasked with hiring a manager of the performing arts center and recommending programs for the center. The Heymann Performing Arts Center was built in 1960 to bring “economic, cultural and educational benefits” to Lafayette and was built with “state of the art” acoustical architecture.
The refinement and sophistication of the Heymann Performing Arts Center stands in stark contrast to Ms. Boyer’s social media presence.
In a “repost” from July 25, Ms. Boyer referred to President Obama as a “Muslim President” who created “Muslim districts so those 4 Muslims could have seats in our Congress.” It is unclear to whom Ms. Boyer is referring, as there are only three practicing Muslims in Congress in 2020.
But the post that landed Ms. Boyer in hot water was a satirical article about Disneyworld. The Genesius Times, which wrote the story, calls itself “the most reliable source of fake news on the planet” – which is visible on the website’s masthead. The satirical piece claimed that Disney renamed its famous “Main Street, USA” after George Floyd and declared it as an “antifa autonomous zone.”
Remarkably, Ms. Boyer took the bait and reposted the story, commenting that she “never cared for Disney since Walt has been gone.” Walt Disney, founder of Disney, died in 1966 – over 50 years ago.
Her Facebook friend, Joel Carmichael, observed that Disney was “full of N word lovers and queers” – a comment which has since been deleted. But Big Easy Magazine located the comment before it was deleted and found that Connie Boyer “liked” this comment.
Twitter also took notice. An account called LFT411 posted screenshots of the comment, with Ms. Boyer’s support, and asked Mayor-President Guillory if “these are the kind of people you keep company with and hire.”
@KATCTV3 @KLFY @theadvertiser @theadvocateaca maybe look into the company @JoshGuilloryUSA is keeping? #racistmuch pic.twitter.com/3Cd1P6ZvFG
— LFT411 (@LFT411) August 4, 2020
Mayor-President Guillory had not responded to questions about Connie Boyer. On Reddit, the account that posted the news to r/Acadiana noted that they were unable to ask Guillory about the issue because he allegedly blocked them “for asking a question about his plans for drainage.”
Ms. Boyer also has posted a number of “hoax” posts regarding the coronavirus, which is currently ravaging Acadiana. On July 16, she shared a video that referred to COVID as “the biggest political hoax and coordinated mass media disinformation campaign in living history.”
The day prior, Ms. Boyer shared a viral post that aimed to discredit the efficacy of face masks in reducing the spread of the virus.
