Forget all the hubbub about “Game of Thrones” and how the latest episode literally had feminists in tears; the big news on TV is that Mr. Ratburn, the teacher on the PBS Kids show “Arthur,” finally came out as gay, although he waited 22 seasons and sprung the big news at his same-sex wedding.
Arthur teacher comes out in children's cartoon series https://t.co/FlyTc1kiUC
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) May 14, 2019
The new season of 'Arthur' features a gay wedding pic.twitter.com/qzCaZh14py
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) May 14, 2019
We haven’t seen the episode, but according to the little recap from NowThis News, the man Mr. Ratburn married owns a chocolate shop, which has us trying really, really hard not to make a joke involving fudge.
TIME says the Internet is “overjoyed” that Mr. Ratburn married his life partner and invited his students to his wedding, but most people just seemed amazed the show is still on.
The Internet is overjoyed that "Arthur" character Mr. Ratburn had a same sex wedding https://t.co/LL2OwWCHPV
— TIME (@TIME) May 14, 2019
Hey, wait … Pride says not everyone was overjoyed:
Not everybody was happy about the #Arthur news this week – we got to chat with a PBS customer service rep who had to deal with the predictable blowback. https://t.co/aMiPyP44i1
— PRIDE (@pride_site) May 14, 2019
It is kind of weird that the character kept his sexuality to himself for 21 seasons and then dropped a same-sex wedding on his students.
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lol "the internet" because no one on here has varied opinions on things.
— RJ Veda (@GrownMillennial) May 14, 2019
Time now speaks for "the internet" do they? Translation: a very tiny segment of mainly white middle class millennials with nothing better in their lives are happy with this.
— Ssswhitey (@ssswhitey) May 14, 2019
LMFAOOOO welcome to ??
— Tay (@OrandeXI) May 14, 2019
The honeymoon episode is bound to be controversial.
— Cam Kay (@canmore2018) May 14, 2019
I’d have been even more impressed if Ratburn had crossed species lines—then again, maybe he did (I can’t really tell).
— Henry L. Wilson (@HenryLWilson1) May 14, 2019
He did, actually.
He married Patrick who is an aardvark like Arthur ? pic.twitter.com/roWzKM4s63
— SD (@s_brownie) May 14, 2019
I'm so glad that we've come to the point in our society where instead of the fact that this is a relationship between two males we can instead worry about the fact that it's a relationship between TWO DIFFERENT SPECIES https://t.co/F5S1juWq63
— Mike Viola (@mf_viola) May 14, 2019
They're doing this just to be inclusive. Just like JK Rowling. Had he been planned to be gay, he would've came out by season 10. https://t.co/VyvHMhIjqy
— RealAydoKimyōna ? (@realchriscapri1) May 14, 2019
I thought him being a raging alcoholic was bad enough. Now this.
— IrishDFens (@IrishDFens) May 14, 2019
We do wonder about the entire Internet being overjoyed — it reminds us of the fight in Britain between Muslim parents and the school principal who was mandated to present the LGBT-friendly “No Outsiders” project to elementary school children. The Muslim parents weren’t exactly thrilled that the school was teaching sexual orientation to second-graders, so we doubt the “Arthur” wedding would be a big hit either.
Ridiculous
— Mary (@Dylanesque2604) May 14, 2019
#JumpTheShark pic.twitter.com/9yV3QWMShg
— Johnny Lawrence ??? (@Brandersar) May 14, 2019
I am shocked and appalled. pic.twitter.com/vKGqytP81y
— Joel (@JoelEastwood90) May 14, 2019
Gay aardvarks? Unheard of! pic.twitter.com/i97vrdoWja
— ??Django Suited & Booted (@Cra_Vee) May 14, 2019
Gay rats are now getting married and I cant get anyone, typical ???
— stuart comrie (@stuart_comrie) May 14, 2019
That’s so gay
— Gibbo (@Gibbo263) May 14, 2019
Maybe it was all just a ploy to bump up ratings with something controversial. Nah, they probably thought they needed to be as woke as “Sesame Street.” Although in an ironic twist, the creator of Bert and Ernie squashed the idea that they were a gay couple last year:
It seems Mr. Mark Saltzman was asked if Bert & Ernie are gay. It's fine that he feels they are. They're not, of course. But why that question? Does it really matter? Why the need to define people as only gay? There's much more to a human being than just straightness or gayness.
— Frank Oz (@TheFrankOzJam) September 18, 2018
Related:
'P' is for 'prison': Sesame Street creates first character with parent in jail http://t.co/kolV9pEIql
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) June 17, 2013
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