New York PBS affiliate WNET has removed three educational episodes from the archives that address transgender identity and drug expression in order to reimburse public broadcasting following threats from Congressional conservatives and the Trump administration.
1 Target Program It was a 2021 episode of the Education Series Let’s learnentitled “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish.” In this episode, Drag Queen and children’s author Lil Miss Hotmeth read from a book with the same name. This is a playful look at the classic nursery rhyme “Bus Wheel.”
The episode was blown up by conservatives, including US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.) during a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Government Efficiency.
Green and others argued that the episode is an example of how public broadcasters have used taxpayer money to promote radical social agendas.
“PBS News isn’t left-leaning, but it’s actively using taxpayer funds to push some of the most radical left positions, like the one featuring drag queens on the show,” Greene said.
Following the initial airing of the 2021 episode, PBS has shunned itself Let’s learnsays the series “not funded or distributed by PBS.”
Let’s learn The series is produced in collaboration with the WNET Group and the New York City Department of Education.
“The drag queens weren’t actually featured on any of our kids’ shows,” PBS CEO Paula Kerger said, claiming that the episode was accidentally placed on the PBS website. PBS later followed a letter on March 26, 2025 that “we deleted all remaining references” in the episode in question.
When the controversy first broke, the WNET group posts a disclaimer at the start of the episode, Let’s learn The series is now available on public television stations. [it] At their discretion (or not). ”
“Drugs are performance art that can inspire creative thinking and stereotypical questions,” the disclaimer continues. “Lil Miss Hot Mess is the author of the book. “The Hips on the Drag go go swish, swish, swish.” She works for the Drug Queen Story Hour’s global leadership team and hosts reading at numerous libraries, children’s museums and schools across the country. ”
A WNET spokesman defended the episode and paid attention to it Let’s learn It aims to “incorporate themes that explore diversity and promote inclusion.”
According to Interceptfollowing the Doge hearing earlier this year, and in the face of an increase in calls from Republicans, and in the face of eliminating federal funds for public television and radio, WNET reversed the course and quietly removed all mentions of that episode from the platform. The video was listed as “private” on WNET’s YouTube channel, and although the station instructed the search engine not to list old web pages for the episode, episode It can still be viewed on the Wayback machine in the Internet Archive.
According to Interceptfollowing the Congressional Doge hearing earlier this year, and amid growing Republican pressure to refund public broadcasts, WNET reversed the course and quietly scrubed the episode from its platform. The video is currently marked “private” on WNET’s YouTube channel, and the station is blocking search engines from indexing the original webpage of the episode. However, it can be accessed through Internet Archive’s Wayback machine.
WNET also deleted the other two Let’s learn An episode featuring books with transgender characters.
In the November 2020 episode, “Max and the Talent Show,” author Kyle Lukoff reads his book with the same name. A white trans boy named Max will help his black male friend Steven prepare for the talent show and “help find the perfect gown, shoes, cape and tiara.” School Library Journal.
WNET also deleted “both brains have a long “A””. Max and the Talent Show To practice reading words featuring the long “A” sound.
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
