‘Justified’ Actor Nick Searcy Reacts To Denée Benton Describing Ron DeSantis As “Grand Wizard”: “Democrats Want You Dead If You Aren’t One Of Them”

John F. Trent |

Jun 13, 2023

Nick Searcy as Art Mullen in Justified (2011), FX

Actor Nick Searcy did not mince words when he reacted to The Gilded Age actress Denée Benton referring to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as a “grand wizard.”

While making a presentation during the Tony Awards, Benton said, “Hi, I’m Denée Benton, actor and proud CMU alum. Earlier tonight CMU and the Tony Awards presented the 2023 Excellence in Theatre Education Award. And while I am certain that the current Grand Wizard, I’m sorry, excuse me, governor of my home state of Florida will be changing…”

After pausing for the raucous applause from the attendees of the ceremony, she continued, “I am sure that he will be changing the name of this following town immediately. We were honored to present this award to the truly incredible and life-changing Jason Zembuch Young enhancing the lives of students at South Plantation High School in Plantation, Florida.”

Last night at the Tony Awards, a presenter called @GovRonDeSantis the current “grand wizard” of the KKK. pic.twitter.com/FUsVjFUlCH

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) June 12, 2023

Searcy reacted to her comments writing on Twitter, “Democrats want you dead if you aren’t one of them.”

He added, “Ignorant people like this young lady have been given permission to hate by her Democrat heroes.”

Searcy also shared Washington D.C. radio personality Larry O’Connor’s comments. O’Connor tweeted, “Remember when we said that the hatred and demonization weren’t “just about Trump” and that they think of EVERY Republican like this? Yeah…”

Searcy is no stranger to sharing his thoughts on social media. In February 2022, he revealed that The List cancelled an interview he had previously scheduled with them.

Searcy would go on to use the cancelation as an example of what he believes the Left is trying to do to America, “This is the America that the Left wants — a country where anyone who disagrees with the Left is silenced, shunned, and disappeared. The sickest part is that they no longer have to go to the trouble of physically murdering you. That is messy, and a lot to clean up.”

He added, “Now they can just ERASE you, remove you from social media, refuse to hear your voice, demonize you, call you a racist extremist white supremacist or whatever the popular demonizing language of the day is, and make it impossible for you to function unless you toe the line.”

Searcy’s outspokenness on cultural and political issues is now characteristic of the actor, but that was not always the case. He informed Bounding Into Comics in July of 2022 that the creation of the pro-life film Gosnell was the tipping point where he chose not to care what his peers in Hollywood thought of him.

He said, “Gosnell for me personally was the time when I first decided I’d no longer care what they think of me anymore. I’m going to try to make movies that I believe and that I think are important. It definitely changed the trip trajectory of my career in many ways.”

“People are always asking me do I think it hurt me career-wise. Perhaps in some circles, but it also helped me as well. I’ve made two documentaries in the last two years, one that is still in release right now called Capital Punishment, which is a movie about the January 6th protesters. I’m going to spend the time I have left making things that I believe in and that I care about, and so it was a huge turning point for me personally,” he added.

To that point, he also made clear he plans to create films that reflect his values. He revealed, “I think politics is downstream of culture. Emotionally what the Left always tries to do is just evoke pure emotion without reason, and we have to make art that reflects our values.”

“It’s different than an argument, those movies are important in the sense that we’re revealing things to the audience in an emotional way that they did not really know before, and that has made a difference,” he explained.