OCPA Statement on Accused Professor Receiving Subsidies

Following the OU Daily’s report on Professor John Scamehorn, who is “accused by at least three former OU students of inappropriate behavior and sexual harassment,” Trent England, executive vice president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA), made the following statement:

“This story is about more than a University coverup. Oklahoma Film+Music has tried to hide its support for John Scamehorn by deleting pages from its website. But Scamehorn, like Harvey Weinstein, benefitted from cash subsidies from the Oklahoma Film Enhancement Rebate Program for two films he was involved with: Pax Masuclina and Blueberry Hall.

“Scamehorn’s films were short, bizarre, and apparently never appeared in any mainstream theaters. But they received over $100,000 of taxpayer money. At least this is less than the $4 million given away to Weinstein.

“When will politicians stop trying to pick winners and losers? After all, they’re not very good at it. It is inherently immoral to take money from taxpayers and then give it to a favored group—in this case, filmmakers. The fact that some of these filmmakers engage in additional immoral behavior is just salt in taxpayers’ wounds.”

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