Lousiana Governor Takes Shot At LSU Football Team, Blames 'Woke People' For Taking Tiger Tradition Away

The Governor of Louisiana decided to continue his unhinged ranting about the traditions of LSU football at an event on Monday night, while also taking a shot at the LSU football program in the process. 

If you did not see the news this past week, Governor Jeff Landry decided to go about finding a tiger to parade around the LSU sidelines before their game against Alabama on Saturday. He also felt the need to call out the football team in the process of blaming ‘woke’ people for the Tigers not having a live mascot on the sidelines any longer. 

All of this felt like a man with power trying to get his way, while making himself look good in the eyes of constituents in Louisiana in the process. 

After the previous tiger, Mike VI, died in 2016, the LSU athletic department announced that they would no longer have a live animal on the sidelines during its games. Sure, it was cool tradition of having a tiger sitting in a cage just outside the visiting team's locker room, but it's not as if he was at every game during an eight-year period. 

There were plenty of animal rights groups that objected to having a tiger be subjected to sitting in a cage in front of over 100,000 people during games in Baton Rouge. At the end, the university felt it would be best to keep ‘Mike The Tiger’ in his luxurious enclosure on LSU's campus. 

But the governor just had to get his way. So, he decided to rent a tiger named ‘Omar Bradley’ from an ‘exotic animal talent agency’ out of Florida from a man named Michael Kalmanson, who has had multiple complaints filed against him. Two times a tiger allegedly escaped from his area. 

While the event this past Saturday was advertised as having the tiger sitting in a cage inside the stadium, there was only a seven minute ‘parade’ where the animal was actually viewed. To say it was awkward would be an understatement, but there's also no way that this would've occurred if the university did not allow it, so it cannot be put all on the governor. 

Louisiana Governor Takes Shot At ‘Woke’ People, And LSU Football Team

Following the blowout loss to Alabama, Governor Landry was speaking at an event on Monday night where he tore into the folks that were against the ‘tradition’ of having a tiger inside the stadium for gamedays, while also taking a shot at the football team. 

"I had more people come up to me, and they remembered Mike the Tiger more than some of the great plays in Tiger Stadium," Governor Landry said on Monday night according to ‘The Advocate’. "And they grew up as children seeing this. It’s about tradition. At the end of the day, these woke people have tried to take tradition out of this country. It’s tradition that built this country."

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA - NOVEMBER 09: Head Coach Brian Kelly of the LSU Tigers leads a huddle before the game against the Alabama Crimson Tide at Tiger Stadium on November 9, 2024 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Gus Stark/LSU/University Images via Getty Images)

But he wasn't done, after taking shots at ‘woke’ people, whatever that actually means in this day and age. Nope, Landry decided he'd also throw shade at the LSU football team, making him look like a joke in the process. 

"Our tiger, our live tiger, unfortunately, disappointingly, was the only tiger who showed up Saturday. I’m sorry," Landry said at an event called ‘Politics with a punch’. 

So Landry didn’t get his way, had to bring in a rental tiger from Florida, then wants to take some unwarranted shots at the football team for their performance against Alabama. 

This guy is a real piece of work. I look forward to his next brilliant idea.