Arkansas Network Decides Not to Air Gay Wedding Episode of ‘Arthur’

Some TV execs down in Arkansas think they're tooooooo good for a gay rat wedding, apparently!

The Arkansas Educational Television Network, a state network of Public Broadcasting Service member television stations, has decided not to air the 22nd season premiere of Arthur where the titular character's third-grade teacher gets married to another man (bear? dog? aardvark?), The Hillreports.

Julie Thomas, AETN's Director of Marketing, claims the network's decision has to do with presenting age-appropriate content for young viewers or something.

"We previewed the episode in question because content decisions that affect our smallest viewers and their parents are a major concern for us," Thomas told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "While ideally parents watch our programming with their children and discuss it with them afterwards, the reality is that many children, some of them younger than age four, watch when a parent is not in the room. In realizing that many parents may not have been aware of the topics of the episode beforehand, we made the decision not to air it on our main channel."

Just say you hate gay rats and go!

The news comes days after Alabama Public Television also chose not to air the gay rat wedding episode for similarly bullshit reasons.

"Parents have trusted Alabama Public Television for more than 50 years to provide children's programs that entertain, educate and inspire," Mike McKenzie, APT's TV Director of Programming, told NBC News at the time. "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."

Let the gay rat live!

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