Alabama Public Television has decided not to air a recent episode of children’s show Arthur featuring homosexual characters and a same-sex wedding.
The program premiered its 22nd season last week with an episode about the gay marriage of the much-loved school teacher, Mr Ratburn.
However, after Mike McKenzie, director of programming at APT, and others at APT viewed the episode, they decided not to air it.
“Parents have trusted Alabama Public Television for more than 50 years to provide children’s programs that entertain, educate and inspire,” McKenzie said in a statement.
“More importantly – although we strongly encourage parents to watch television with their children and talk about what they have learned afterwards – 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.”
McKenzie went on to say, “the vast majority of parents will not have heard about the content, whether they agree with it or not. Because of this, we felt it would be a violation of trust to broadcast the episode.”
Hats off to you, Mr McKenzie. What a shame that it’s now a rarity to come across anyone in this industry that’s not bent on indoctrinating impressionable children.
