Conservative radio host Glenn Beck had a full-on freakout over the so-called “cancel culture” supposedly taking aim at Dr. Seuss and classic children’s toys, calling on his listeners to “buy Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head” while they can because this is “the end of freedom in America.”
Over the past couple of days, right-wing media has obsessed over the decision by Dr. Seuss Enterprises to stop publishing six obscure books due to blatantly racist and offensive imagery, claiming this is just another example of the “woke” left “canceling” the past. Lost in the discussion, however, is the fact that it was Dr. Seuss’s own foundation that decided to discontinue the books.
Beck, who just a few short years ago was “sorry about all that” regarding his right-wing conspiratorial ravings, took to his BlazeTV program on Tuesday to deliver an over-the-top warning to his audience about Dr. Seuss and Hasbro relabeling their Mr. Potato Head to Potato Head.
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“They are banning Dr. Seuss books,” Beck growled. “How much more do you need to see before all of America wakes up and says, ‘This is fascism!’ This is fascism! You don’t destroy books!” (The books, of course, have not been banned. The publisher is just not going to print any new versions of the six specific books, similar to when record labels take albums out of print or, say, Disney puts select films back in the “vault.”)
“What is wrong with us, America?” Beck continued to rant. “Go out and buy those books today. Find out if you can get them. Buy Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head because it's the end of an era. It is the end of freedom in America!”
Prior to the Dr. Seuss kerfuffle, conservatives lost their collective minds over Mr. Potato Head, falsely believing that Hasbro was getting rid of the gender identities of the brand. The toy company, instead, is just renaming the overall brand Potato Head, while Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head dolls will remain available.
Beck, who has long compared progressives to Nazis, then ominously warned that soon Americans will be “bullied to the point where you better not have that book.”
