Video: Mr. Rogers' 1-Minute Song About Gender Would Likely Be Banned by PBS Today
Few figures are as universally celebrated and beloved as American television host and Presbyterian minister Fred Rogers.
His show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” an educational program for preschool-age children, is perhaps the crowning achievement of the Public Broadcasting Service.
Despite the show ending only a few decades ago, it’s unlikely that PBS would feel comfortable broadcasting it today — especially episodes about the biological reality of gender.
“Boys are boys from the beginning. Girls are girls right from the start. Everybody’s fancy. Everybody’s fine. Your body’s fancy and so is mine,” Rogers sings in the clip below.
During a 1980 interview on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,” Rogers explained the purpose of the 60-second song.
Carson asked if the audience of Rogers’ show was too young for the topic of sex.
“Not at all,” Rogers responded. “That’s where they learn the differences.”
“Sometimes children think that they might change, they might have to change after a while. And, you know, we laugh about that now, but it’s because we had that concern when we were little,” Rogers said.
Carson followed up, saying, “Yeah, because you’re really not sure. You thought maybe you’d become a girl or a girl would become a boy, right?”
“Exactly,” Rogers said.
“Happens frequently out here,” Carson said to a roar of laughter from the audience.
In places like Burbank, California, where “The Tonight Show” was filmed, it seems that transgenderism was already growing in prevalence in 1980.
But unlike back then, few would likely laugh at such a joke today.
And, given the current state of affairs surrounding gender, few television networks would likely air Rogers’ views of gender.
In recent years, PBS has actually run a number of programs that support the practice of transitioning children, sending the exact opposite message of Rogers’ song.
These programs include “Growing Up Trans” and “Prideland,” in which gay and transgender individuals tell their stories.
The network even went so far as to produce a show for 3- to 8-year-olds featuring a drag queen, according to Newsweek.
In the episode, a drag queen named “Lil Miss Hot Mess” read a book entitled “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish.”
Drag queen Little Miss Hot Mess sings “The Hips On the Drag Queen Go Swish Swish Swish” to a virtual child audience on an episode of “Let’s Learn,” produced in partnership by WNET and the New York City Department of Education and aired on PBS. pic.twitter.com/pK9fjoOPMe
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) May 20, 2021
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