If you’ve happened to watch Fox News for an hour in the last few days, you may feel that Dr. Seuss is the largest news story in America. It probably won’t surprise you that it’s not that simple.
As Stephen Colbert explained in his Late show monologue Tuesday night, Dr. Seuss Enterprises decided to stop publishing six rather obscure titles by the iconic children’s author because they contain “ racist and insensitive images. ”
“It’s a responsible move on their part,” the host objected. “There had been no earth-shattering outrage, but they recognize the impact these images can have on readers, especially children, and they are trying to fix it, because Dr. Seuss books should be fun for all people – Black, White, Straight , gay, Sneetches both asterisks and plain, Loraxes, Barb-a-loots, all the Whos in Whoville and the strange evil creature called Foo Foo the Snoo. ”
Colbert went on to highlight just a few of the Dr. Seuss books that “ teach essential lessons to this day, ” including the Butter Battle Book, environment Lorax and Jump on Pop, which “warns of the dangers of pop-hopping.”
“The people at Dr. Seuss listened to criticism, thought it was reasonable and made a so-called change,” he added. “Or as it is known on Fox News: cancel culture.”
After playing a montage that just scratched the surface of how much Fox was obsessed with the story this week, culminating in a full-blown Donald Trump Jr. collapse, Colbert said, “I’m not surprised Don Jr. The cat in the hat, I’ve always believed he can read at a second grade level. I also think his dad calls him and Eric ‘Thing One’ and ‘Thing Two’. ”
Finally, Colbert read aloud from a brand new Seussian book called “Oh the Books You Can Read,” which began, “So the book news you heard today got you all. And now you’re defensive of old Dr. Seuss. If you find that your bookshelf has just gotten a little duller, consider these children’s books by people of color. ”
‘There are a lot of new stories that you might like,’ he continued, ‘like Imani’s moon by Janay Brown-Wood. Would you like more suggestions? You don’t have to keep hoping. Just pick it up Firebird by the Misty Copeland. And this one right here is the real real McCoy, it’s the great book by Thomisha Booker Brown Boy JoyThere is a whole series of books that will make you feel happy, as this one is called Her love by Matthew A. Cherry. “
“So don’t be so canceled, culture, whiny,” Colbert concluded. “Read these books after you’ve pulled your head out of your hiney.”
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