The newly installed dean of students at New College of Florida cracked homophobic jokes and made a series of bizarre comments as part of a recent stand-up comedy routine—a bit that’s managed to enrage some students and alumni even as the university continues to stand behind him.
The man behind the tasteless jokes was David Rancourt, an ex-lobbyist who was part of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ overhauling of New College last year, which saw its old leadership stripped and filled largely with like-minded ideologues.
Rancourt, who oversees the university’s 700 students, joked about exposing himself to a fellow child—who he calls a bitch at one point—when he was in elementary school, a drill sergeant sticking a baton up his butt, and his Peace Corp battalion being raped by native men in the Amazon. He also spoke about his love for sex and beer.
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In setting up his joke about the Amazon, Rancourt said the chief of a tribe that’d captured him and his Peace Corp buddies had given them two choices—death, or “Bunga Bunga,” which he later suggested was a euphemism for being raped by the tribe members.
“I don’t want to die,” Rancourt said, quoting a member of his group. “I don’t know what ‘bunga bunga’ is, but give me bunga bunga. So they took that man and they strapped him down on the tree over on the side, bent him over, and every man in the tribe violated him.”
The joke didn’t have a definitive punch line. Rancourt continued by saying the next member of his captured group was brought out and asked the same question by the chief, but he chose death. The chief ordered the man dead, Rancourt said, and the death was to be administered via “bunga bunga.” Then, the set was over.
Video of the stand-up session was posted to YouTube on Jan. 25. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported that it was part of a New College-sanctioned group comedy class that was hosted in downtown Sarasota.
When reached for comment about the video, the university acted as if a news article about the routine was akin to cancel culture.
“Cancel culture is over at New College,” said the university’s statement, sent to the Herald-Tribune. “Comedy is a work of art, one that is reliant on our society’s tenets of free speech and free expression. New College supports its students, faculty and staff’s right to participate in artistic endeavors like a comedy performance, or any other civil exercising of free speech and free expression.”
Rancourt noted on stage that a member of the college's board of trustees was in attendance, joking that he hoped they were OK with his jokes.
While New College itself unequivocally backed its dean, the college's president, Richard Corcoran, couldn’t help but notice how often his colleague mentioned gay sex in the seven minutes he was on stage.
“There’s a lot of gay jokes there,” said Corcoran, who followed up Rancourt’s comedy routine with one of his own. “I think he's trying to tell me something.”
The comments from both college leaders come as LGBTQ students at New College have said they feel they’re the target of a hostile environment at the school, as The Daily Beast reported last year.
A flurry of changes at the university are likely to blame. That includes the termination of a librarian who’s LGBTQ, as well as the abolishment of its Office of Outreach and Inclusive Excellence, its women’s and gender studies programs, and a designated dorm that was created for LGBTQ students.
