In its race to be the most draconian, antiquated state in the union, Alabama Public Television refused this week to air an episode of the beloved PBS children’s show Arthur because it depicts the title character’s teacher, Mr. Ratburn, marrying another male.
“Parents have trusted Alabama Public Television for more than 50 years to provide children’s programs that entertain, educate, and inspire,” Mike McKenzie, a spokesperson for APT, said in a statement. “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.”
Related: Alabama bans episode of children’s cartoon ‘Arthur’ for featuring gay wedding
And so, McKenzie said, APT could not, in good conscience, air “Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone.” Instead, Alabama residents can only view the episode by going to PBS.org.
Clearly, and also not surprisingly, the censors at Alabama Public Television have never heard of the “Streisand effect.” That said, we wouldn’t be surprised if the Season 22 premiere of Arthur ends up being its highest rated yet.
While we wait to find out, here’s what people on Twitter are saying about Alabama’s response to the gay cartoon rat wedding scandal…
this is obviously not good but “Arthur gay rat wedding” is one of those phrases that’s gonna be rattling around my brain after dementia has robbed me of my memories and mental faculties pic.twitter.com/e5twcjMxRM
— cespedes broke his ankles in a ranch accident (@ollemkcin) May 21, 2019
Alabama: no abortion
Arthur: Gay wedding
Alabama: nah ?? That’s gotta go too— i dont have blood only coffee (@corporeal_cat) May 21, 2019
The biggest surprise for me about the Arthur gay wedding was finding out that Arthur is still on TV and has 20+ seasons!!! I guess I had just assumed that Arthur had ended in the early 2000s?
— Mathias (@bucephalus424) May 15, 2019
Alabama refuses to show the Arthur gay wedding but is fine with incest
— Shaggy Rogers (@Shaggy_of_Gods) May 21, 2019
Alabama, last week: [bans abortion]
Alabama, this week: [bans “Arthur” gay wedding episode]
Alabama, next week: [bans “that fancy book learnin’”]
— Santa Claus, CEO (@SantaInc) May 21, 2019
I can't believe Alabama Public Television is refusing to air the Arthur episode about Mr. Ratburn's gay wedding.
Hasn't anyone told Alabama that the more gay people there are, the fewer abortions occur?
— ????SPECIALG4Y™? (@SPECIALG4Y) May 21, 2019
Alabama just banned Mr. Ratburn’s gay wedding episode of Arthur. I bet they also banned the episode that tells you all about the joys of a library card. Can’t have impressionable children going and *gasp* learning how the world really is!
— Harlee Noble (@HarleeNobleVA) May 21, 2019
Not airing the wedding episode won't make our king Mr. Ratburn be any less gay, Alabama. https://t.co/eXTJJj08XZ
— allie (@janetsnakeholez) May 21, 2019
Alabama is refusing to show the Arthur gay wedding cause the plot of the episode is that Ratburn's sister is set up as the red-herring that the audience thinks is his fiancé before it reveals his actual partner and Alabama just couldn't accept that.
— Madeline ?? (@Transyndicalist) May 21, 2019
Alabama Public Television censors the "Arthur" gay wedding episode, but greenlights the one where Muffy has to carry Roy Moore's baby to full term.
— Vs. (@JFD8) May 21, 2019
It was definitionally a "gay rat wedding" but also I'm pretty sure Mr. Ratburn's husband is an aardvark. https://t.co/oJVvp5mnS6
— Robinson Meyer (@yayitsrob) May 21, 2019
The real reason the Arthur gay wedding isn’t good representation is the only people who seem to be gay at the wedding are the grooms. What gay person doesn’t have gay friends? I hardly have straight friends! The only straight people at my wedding were my family.
— Ante Flan (@NotALemur) May 13, 2019
Related: Delicate right-wing radio host Sebastian Gorka having trouble coping with ‘Arthur’
Juanjo
Alabamans are being instructed to join Utahans in placing their fingers in their ears and screaming la la la at the top of their lungs while the episode is being aired nationwide.
Herman75
A Republican barred form the mall for his interest in young girls is an OK Senate candidate for Alabama, but not this gay rat. Dumb rednecks.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
1000% Co-sign. Guess who is currently leading the Repugnaticans and is a virtual lock to run again???
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Maybe that Confederate thingy wasn’t such a bad idea after all…..
IWantAFullBeard
Unless you are black and a slave.
Mick406
Rats don’t need to be marrying rats! We’ve got too many of ’em now . . . in the Demorat Party!
Mack
Ah, another trump turd.
Kangol2
Nope, the chief lazy rat is that racist, lying traitor in the White House, the one you love, Don the Con Drumpf. Even GOP rep Kevin McCarthy said on tape that Putin was paying him! Can’t find a worse rat than that.
IWantAFullBeard
Remind me where Alabama ranks on:
Education
Income
Physical health
Mental health
truthseeker
@IWantAFullBeard
California ranks 50th in education, so I don’t think you want to use that argument.
inbama
Only if you’re fool enough to believe Christian News Service.
Goforit
truthseeker…. A cursory search on Google revealed these truths. U. S. News ranks California at an overall at 21st in education. Alabama at 50th. Forbes ranks Ca. at 37th and Ala. at 44. USA Today ranks them 35th and 43rd respectively. I could not find anyone that ranked California 50th. Maybe you should provide a link to support your “truths”.
IWantAFullBeard
Truth seeker – want to share what source you got that information from? Pretty much every source has Mississippi as 50 and Alabama as 49. In fact Alabama ranks 40 or lower in almost every category.
truthseeker
@inbama
@Goforit
@IWantAFullBeard
The source is the US Census. Queerty doesn’t allow people to post links but I can direct you on where to Google it.
You can Google: “List of U.S. states by educational attainment” and Wikipedia has the list from the US Census. Also, when you Google “List of U.S. states by educational attainment” if you scroll down to the US Census link titled “[xls] Educational Attainment by State – Census Bureau” you can see the full list. Sort it by Percentage of High School Graduation.
@Goforit
@IWantAFullBeard
The sources you are finding are all using the US News rankings article as their source. However, if you look deeper into the US News’ methodology for the rankings, it says they used the National Center for Education Statistics as their source and provides a link.
If you then visit the National Center for Education Statistics and click on “Table 104.85 Rates of high school completion and bachelor’s degree attainment among persons age 25 and over, by race/ethnicity and state: 2017”, you’ll see that US News is inaccurate in their reporting.
The NCES ranks California’s high school graduation rate at 83.4% and Alabama at 86%
Most of the rankings you guys are referencing are factoring in College admissions (which is factoring in out-of-state college students to bump up the numbers) but if you look at just high school graduation rates from the US Census and the NCES it shows a more accurate ranking of the actual residents born in that state.
IWantAFullBeard
@TruthSeeker – The US Census does not rank states by education. They have statistics for educational achievement – which is different due to a number of factors. More so, you are basis your california rank solely on high school diplomas – but skipping bachelors degrees and masters degrees.
Try again.
truthseeker
@IWantAFullBeard
I just gave you the title of the report from the Census that shows educational achievement (high school graduation rates) by state.
Then I gave another source from the National Center for Education Statistics which you didn’t address
I then already explained why bachelors and masters degrees aren’t a fair assessment as compared to high school graduation rates because many students in college are out of state students.
Just because you were proven wrong doesn’t mean you need to get salty. Just accept you were wrong and move on