Popular ‘Arthur’ Character Comes Out as Gay

WATCH: Episode of cartoon character shows that he is gay

I’m a 90s kid who spent much of her childhood moving a giant antenna outside of the living room window to make PBS come in “clearly.” “Arthur” was one of my favorite shows, because 1.) It was clean–my parents had nothing to worry about and 2.) It was one of the only cartoons that came on that channel. I loved it so much that I named all my fish after the characters. Oh yeah– I had Muffy, Binky, Francine– you name it.

Because I don’t have children of my own, I’m not exactly in the cartoon market. I had no idea that “Arthur” was still going strong.

The first episode of season 22 (season 22?!?!) kicked off on Monday, and it looks like show writers decided to make it a little more “woke.”

Mr. Ratburn– everyone’s beloved teacher– is gay. Yeah– they episode featured him getting married to another dude. The episode was titled, “Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone.”

Mr. Ratburn is the gay icon I never knew I needed pic.twitter.com/wp4o5TLr1p

— piñata farmer 👩🏾‍🌾🎊 (@extraspicee) May 13, 2019

PBS released the following statement on the controversial decision:

“PBS KIDS programs are designed to reflect the diversity of communities across the nation. We believe it is important to represent the wide array of adults in the lives of children who look to PBS KIDS every day,” PBS stated.

I never thought I’d say this, but Arthur is officially a show I’d have to screen before allowing my future kid to watch.