Six books by author Theodor Geisel, known to millions as Dr. Seuss, will stop being published due to racist and insensitive imagery. They are: And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, If I Ran the Zoo, McElligot’s Pool, On Beyond Zebra!, Scrambled Eggs Super!, and The Cat’s Quizzer. “Today, on Dr. Seuss’s Birthday, Dr. Seuss Enterprises celebrates reading and also our mission of supporting all children and families with messages of hope, inspiration, inclusion, and friendship,” a statement read. “Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises’s catalog represents and supports all communities and families.”
As adored as Dr. Seuss is by millions around the world for the positive values in many of his works, including environmentalism and tolerance, there has been increasing criticism in recent years over the way Blacks, Asians and others are drawn in some of his most beloved children’s books, as well as in his earlier advertising and propaganda illustrations.
To discuss the news, Fox & Friends brought on a literary expert: Donald Trump Jr. (he read Think Big and Kick Ass… probably?). “There’s no place they won’t go,” DTJ, nearly unintentionally referencing a Seuss book, said about his boogeyman, the Left. “This week alone, they canceled Mr. Potato Head. This week alone, they canceled the Muppets. They’re canceling Dr. Seuss from reading programs. I literally know The Cat in the Hat by heart without the book there, because I read it so many times to my children.” The Cat in the Hat is not one of the six books being, as Fox News would put it, “canceled.” Trump Jr. is also furious about “Oreo cookie chiming in on trans rights,” because it’s easier for him to be mad at a desert than a transphobic congresswoman.
He also said that “we have lost our minds,” which is his only accurate take yet:
The purported "cancelation" of Dr. Seuss has been mentioned at least 32 times on Fox News & Fox Business already this morn. It was mentioned 22 times on Newsmax's morning show.
For context, "Covid" was mentioned 11 times on Fox & Friends, and 12 times on Newsmax's morning show.
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 2, 2021
Here’s the Fox News segment.
AINSLEY EARHARDT: There's this cancel culture trying to cancel Dr. Seuss now. How far are they going to take this?
DON JR: This week alone, they canceled Mr. Potato Head. This week alone, they canceled the Muppets … you have Oreo cookie chiming in on trans rights pic.twitter.com/4fqUaBUmik
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 2, 2021
(Via the Associated Press)