Well, it’s finally official.
About 12 hours after we broke the story that Ryan Walters had filed for divorce from his wife, Katie, the couple made things official with a very calculated statement to The Oklahoman that focused on their family and privacy.
"After thoughtful conversations, we've arrived at this decision and will remain devoted parents of four wonderful kids. Our children are at the heart of everything, and we love them more than words can say. We're grateful for the family we've built and committed to raising our kids together with the same love and care they've always known. We kindly ask for privacy for them as we settle into this next chapter."
That’s nice. As far as statements that make you kind of feel guilty for laughing about their predicament go, that was pretty good. But I do have to ask – where was this type of humble, graceful, carefully worded response when Ryan served as state school superintendent?
Seriously, it’s weird to read a Ryan Walters statement that doesn’t include an attack on liberals, teachers unions, and other wokey boogeymen. If he had shown that sort of grace, humility, and care for others while holding public office, maybe more people would be inclined to respect his and his soon-to-be unbetrothed’s wishes!
Inside the liberal social media echo chamber, our story quickly went viral and was celebrated, lampooned and dunked on from just about every possible angle. People mocked Ryan’s long-running “family values” routine, his moralizing political brand, and the obvious hypocrisy of a guy who spent years trying to insert himself into other people’s private lives now asking everyone to please respect his.
They cast a wide net.
While most of the thousands of responses the news received mocked Ryan, we’ve also seen our fair share of people scolding us and the peanut gallery for the lapse in maturity.
We’ve also seen a lot of people spreading misinformation – specifically, claiming this isn’t the first time Ryan has been divorced.
Over the past three or four years, I’ve probably had about 50 people send me a link to an OSCN divorce file involving a “Ryan” and “Katie” Walters.
On the surface, it looks pretty scandalous. The file includes all sorts of allegations involving drugs, abuse and other drama that would make even the most seasoned Ogle Mole spit out their sip of Harbor Mountain coffee.
The only problem is it’s not our Ryan and Katie Walters.
It’s a totally different couple, but that hasn’t stopped internet detectives from spreading baseless lies and misinformation in social media comment threads:
Yep, can you believe it? Apparently internet comment sections are not a great place for accurate information. Who would have thought!
Anyway, I don’t want to come down too hard on these internet folk – it’s not their fault media literacy is at an all-time low – but come on, people. Don’t you think if Ryan Walters had already been tied to a scandalous divorce file full of drugs, abuse and other allegations, The Lost Ogle – and the rest of local media – would have written about it a million times by now?
We may be low-life tabloid degenerates, but we’re not amateurs.
Anyway, now that I’ve played the role of fact-checker and corrected the record that, no – Ryan Walters and Katie Walters haven’t already been married and divorced before – I guess we can all get back to respecting the family’s wishes by reading funny comments about the correct Ryan Walters divorce on the internet.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
