Welcome to everyone’s favorite dystopian nightmare. Alabama, best known for nearly half its population continually supporting an alleged pedophile, pro-rapist laws, censored a cartoon rat wedding because two men getting married is apparently too much for Alabamans — unless those men are brothers.
On May 13th, PBS aired a new episode of their hit show Arthur, an educational children’s cartoon about an anthropomorphic aardvark in elementary school. Titled “Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone,” this new episode follows Arthur and his pals as they attend their teacher Mr. Ratburn’s wedding. Except Mr. Ratburn is lowkey gay so he’s walking down the aisle with another male animal cartoon, and that’s a big no-no for regressive nutjobs in Alabama.
Alabama Public Television (APT) director of programming, Mike McKenzie, made the call to pull the show, choosing to air a rerun instead. “Parents have trusted Alabama Public Television for more than 50 years to provide children’s programs that entertain, educate and inspire,” McKenzie told al.com. “More importantly – although we strongly encourage parents to watch television with their children and talk about what they have learned afterward – parents trust that their children can watch APT without their supervision. We also know that children who are younger than the ‘target’ audience for Arthur also watch the program.”
Yes, McKenzie just needed to make sure that children wouldn’t be caught unaware by the oh-so adult topic of attending a wedding. It’s worth noting that Arthur once had an episode revolving around Arthur crushing on his older babysitter and then drawing a picture of her getting eaten when he discovers she has a boyfriend. Nobody in Alabama ever seemed to have a problem with that, though, because hating women is basically Alabama’s official state pastime.
Of course, Twitter is having a field day.
But don’t worry. If you’re trapped in Alabama, there’s still hope. You can find the full episode here and watch it even though your oppressive state doesn’t want you to. But mainly, consider moving.
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