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Alabama Public Television refuses to air Arthur episode with gay wedding

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In the episode, which aired nationwide May 13, Arthur and his friends 
attend their beloved teacher Mr. Ratburn's nuptials to his partner.

APT preempted the episode by showing a re-run of Arthur.

Mike Mckenzie, director of programming at APT, said APT was notified by 
WGBH and PBS in mid-April about the episode entitled "Mr. Ratburn and 
the Special Someone" and decided to show a re-run. Mckenzie said APT 
has no plans to air the episode at a later date.

"Parents have trusted Alabama Public Television for more than 50 years 
to provide children's programs that entertain, educate and inspire," 
Mckenzie said in an email. "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."

APT previously pulled an episode of Arthur in 2005, when Buster, a 
bunny character in Arthur visited a girl who had two mothers.

"'Our feeling is that we basically have a trust with parents about our 
programming. This program doesn't fit into that,'' Alabama Public 
Television's executive then-director Allan Pizzato told AL.com in 2005.

Misty Souder, a substitute teacher in McCalla, saw the celebration of 
inclusion on social media and recorded the episode to watch with her 9
-year-old daughter. She and her daughter were disappointed when the 
episode, which still was named "Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone," 
turned out to be a re-run. Souder reached out to APT and used the 
experience to teach her daughter about the importance of speaking out 
for the minority groups.

"I just want her to be aware," Souder said. "There's too much going on 
not to stand up for stuff, even if it's Arthur. I never thought I'd be 
going to battle for a gay rat wedding, but here we are."

-- 
Dems & the media want Trump to be more like Obama, but then he'd 
have to audit liberals  & wire tap reporters' phones.

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Alabama Public Television refuses to air Arthur episode with gay wedding Ubiquitous <weberm@polaris.net> - 2019-05-20 18:41 -0400

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