Indiana Lt. Gov. faces backlash after calling high school band kids “demonic”

Percussion students performed pieces from "Carmen" and "Boléro." Micah Beckwith claimed they were trashing "Christian Conservative families."

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Christian Nationalist Micah Beckwith, the lieutenant governor of Indiana, is now picking a fight with a public high school band, calling their show “demonic,” claiming their school is giving the middle finger to conservative Christians, and urging families to ditch public schools entirely.

Because there’s nothing Beckwith loves more than trashing his own state and the people in it if they don’t align with his right-wing conspiracy theories.

Micah Beckwith, seen here not helping children in his state

Here’s the situation: Westfield High School, just north of Indianapolis, has a very strong competitive marching band and a relatively new Indoor Percussion team. Last month, that percussion team wrapped up their season with a few big competitions performing a program called “The Red Line,” which included music from the opera “Carmen” and Ravel's “Boléro.”

The band explained the theme in a February post on social media:

The Red Line follows a journey of knowing where boundaries exist, yet feeling an urge to cross them. From the restraint of Bolero to the fire of Carmen Fantasy and Capriccio Espagnol, restraint gives way to passion as precision collides with obsession, leaving us changed forever.

That’s a very elaborate description of where the music came from, but remember: We’re talking about percussion players. They weren’t acting out these scenes even if their amazing costumes fit the theme. They were simply interpreting the music. Hell, you can see their show right here: It’s fascinating!

The bottom line is they worked hard, performed at a high level, and the school community rallied behind those students, which is exactly what you hope to see from a high school activity.

Leave it to Micah Beckwith to ruin things for everyone. He saw public school students excited and enthusiastic and he immediately decided he would make their lives worse, as is the Republican way.

Sharing the reel seen above, with performers clad in red and black costumes, Beckwith chimed in to say that “schools like Westfield LOVE giving the [middle finger emoji] to Christian Conservative families of our community.” He then urged parents to use taxpayer-funded vouchers to get their kids out of public high schools.

It’s beyond appalling to see a high-ranking public official trash his own constituents for the crime of having fun while showing off their musical talent... for no reason whatsoever. Beckwith didn’t even elaborate in that post. The assumption is that something about this performance was anti-Christian, but he didn’t bother offering any evidence of that. So we’re all left to believe it’s the costumes and eye makeup.

A responsible, sane politician would congratulate the students for their hard work and the staff for their time and commitment. But Beckwith is a conservative Christian whose religion teaches him to be an asshole at every turn.

This is, after all, the guy who said the LGBTQ movement is operating out of a “demonic playbook,” that the infamous three-fifths compromise was “a good thing,” that his own election was a choice between “godly boldness” and “the Jezebel spirit,” that people who advocate for church/state separation are “the LGBTQ community trying to support Hamas,” that he would only allow exceptions to his state’s anti-abortion laws in the case of child rape victims as long as the rapist was murdered, and that Zohran Mamdani was wrongly trying to “force his values onto New York” by daring to be Muslim in a country that Beckwith falsely claims is founded on Christianity.

And now he’s making up ambiguous reasons to be mad about marching band costumes. As if the school is somehow promoting Satanism when what they’re actually doing is exposing students to classical music. (Some commenters online were quick to point out that their own children, or children they know, were part of that percussion program, and there was nothing anti-Christian about any of it.)

This is all happening, by the way, while Beckwith’s own church is mired in a child sex scandal. But sure. Get mad about red costumes.

On Friday, Beckwith appeared on a conservative talk radio show to talk about his post. As you would predict, he chose to double down on his stupidity instead of apologizing to the children, calling the show “demonic” when it’s clear he never saw the actual performance.

"I was made aware of this from Christian students who attend Westfield, and they said they felt uncomfortable but didn't want to speak out because they were afraid to speak out. They were not being seen, they were not being heard, so I didn't go looking for this — it was brought to my attention," Beckwith told Blakeslee.

"When I looked at it, I said, 'Yeah, this is demonic,' and then, we looked into it even more, and their theme for the drum line — let me explain this — it's the red line, and the red line follows the journey of knowing where boundaries exist, yet feeling an urge to cross them from the restraint of the fires of Carmen, the Carmen fantasy. Now if you don't know who Carmen is, it's a fantasy novel, it's a character, and this is a woman, she's a seductive witch, this is what self-identified. Her job in this opera that they are actually playing music from is to seduce a husband and a father out of his marriage into an affair, so the music they're playing is from that opera, a seductive witch, her whole goal is to try to get a man to cheat on his wife to destroy their family, and Westfield tax dollars are promoting this, and we pay a lot of freaking money in property taxes in Westfield."

It’s hard to believe Christian students complained about this when (1) Beckwith has a history of lying and (2) there’s nothing to complain about. But does anyone seriously believe that there are no Christians in that drumline? In Indiana? And if there were concerns about the show, then students should have gone to the administration about it, not complain to the lieutenant governor. There’s no indication they did that.

Also, he has no clue what the opera is about. Beckwith says Carmen’s “whole goal is to try to get a man to cheat on his wife to destroy their family.” That’s… not even close to true. The man in question, Don José, isn’t married and has no children. So there’s no “affair.” Beckwith couldn’t even bother himself to read the Wikipedia synopsis of the plot.

And what did Beckwith look at? A couple of pictures of the band? Or the actual performance? Because the performance has nothing in it that’s controversial. Saying that music from an opera shouldn’t be used because the full show (which they aren’t performing) has some adult themes in it would also mean you can’t read excerpts from damn near any classical novel. Or the Bible, which is full of rape and genocide and slavery.

To pretend that this percussion performance was advocating for family destruction by way of seduction is such a wild distortion that even Christian pseudo-historian David Barton would say, “I think you’re taking this a bit too far…”

And we know Beckwith doesn’t actually give a shit about people having affairs given that he fully supports thrice-married, affair-having, Epstein-loving Donald Trump.

Elsewhere in that interview, Beckwith insisted the kids who saw his comments as trashing them personally were too stupid to understand what’s going on:

… [T]hey don't know what they're doing, and that's what the demonic always does. They have no idea… They don't know what they're giving themselves over to.

Teenagers are much smarter than Republicans will ever give them credit for.

Beckwith also said he knew what he was talking about because “I was a band teacher for 15 years.” (No he wasn’t. Unless we’re talking about some kind of worship ministry, which isn’t at all comparable to what these students are doing.)

Maybe he’s just mad because the school allegedly “DISINVITED” him from meeting with agriculture students in 2024, a move that prompted Beckwith to threaten to defund the school. Or because, a month later, people protested his appearance there because they knew he was a Christian bigot about to enter public office.

Here’s the good news: It looks like everyone in the community is pushing back against this. They’re genuinely pissed off that Beckwith is targeting a source of local pride.

Westfield Mayor Scott Willis put out a statement celebrating the team’s achievements without directly addressing anything Beckwith said:

… Our students continue to represent Westfield at a high level, both on and off the field. The achievements highlighted by the district reflect not just talent, but a strong commitment to discipline, teamwork, and doing things the right way.

When you hear ‘from Westfield, Indiana’ announced on a national stage, it’s a point of pride for our entire community. These students have put in the work, and it shows. It’s a great example of what can happen when students are supported by their schools, their families, and their community.

The Indiana Percussion Association, which oversees some of these competitions, expressed its support for the band (without directly mentioning Beckwith either):

The Indiana Percussion Association stands in full support of the Westfield Indoor Percussion program, all performing arts in Westfield Washington Schools and the students, staff, and families who make it such a meaningful part of our community.

These performers dedicate countless hours to developing discipline, teamwork, creativity and resilience - qualities that extend far beyond the floor and into their everyday lives. Programs like this don’t just build musicians; they build confident, hardworking young people who represent our communities with pride.

Public criticism, especially when it targets students and their efforts, undermines the positive impact that arts education has on growth, expression, and belonging.

We encourage our community to continue uplifting and supporting these students. Their commitment, passion, and courage to perform deserve recognition, not ridicule. Westfield Indoor Percussion is something to be proud of, and we stand behind them.

There was also a personal reflection from Westfield’s Director of Bands Andrew Muth that’s well worth reading. He spends the bulk of it praising the students for being resilient even as their own lieutenant governor is publicly trashing the program they love:

I’ve learned that kids are incredibly brave. When things weren’t easy, our students chose courage. They carried themselves with grace and class, even as their images and performances were shared thousands of times online. They did it for one simple reason—they love band, and they believe in what they are a part of.

He also noted that he grew up as a Christian—but not the Beckwith kind that pretends hate is a virtue.

I grew up in a Christian household where I was taught a simple but powerful idea from Ezekiel 22:30—to “stand in the gap.”

To me, that means showing up for others when it matters most. It means doing what is right, even when it’s difficult. It means choosing to care, to lead with integrity, and to protect the people around you.

We all have moments where we are called to step forward—to support someone, to speak up, or to be the steady presence others need.

That was this moment.

I am proud to lead this program. I am proud of our kids. I am forever proud to be a rock. Stand in the gap when it matters even in the face of unimaginable adversity.

It’s truly incredible how easy it would have been for Beckwith to say absolutely nothing. Instead, he went out of his way to pick a fight with band kids. You never pick a fight with band kids. Everyone knows a band kid.

But weaponizing his own ignorance is Beckwith’s specialty. It’s all he has in his arsenal because he can’t point to any policies that actually help the people in his state. As the Trump administration teaches us, when you can’t govern effectively, you might as well manufacture outrage. When you can’t inspire people, you might as well scare them. Beckwith is using a talented group of students to launch a broader attack against public schools because he knows well-educated students and communities that rally against bullies aren’t good for his party’s long-term future.

Indiana residents should be furious that a guy like Beckwith is embarrassing their state when they have all these talented students and teachers who deserve far more attention. Their own state leaders are willing to sacrifice their kids’ achievements, their schools’ reputations, and their community’s pride to score cheap political points.

If everyone pushes back, though—without apology and by calling out Beckwith and his party directly—they can make it clear that kids shouldn’t be political props for desperate, talentless conservatives.

If you’d like to support Westfield’s music program, you can do so here.

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