Senator Wants to Pull 'Sesame Street' Funds Because of Billy Porter

Some people really refuse to mind their business. As is the case with one Republican senator who is interested in cutting funding for Sesame Street.

As we all know, last week Sesame Street announced the Billy Porter would appear on an upcoming episode. While the longtime series did not confirm which episode of the 51st season he would be in, they shared photos, presumably from behind the scenes, where Porter was wearing his famed Oscars gown.

More than a few people were upset over it, you know a man in a dress is crazy, anger-inducing stuff to some. Among the most incensed apparently was Arkansas senator Jason Rapert.

"What do you think I should do about this as your state senator?" Rapert wrote on Facebook of the news according to the Arkansas Times. "Do you approve of your taxpayer dollars being used to promote the radical LGBTQ agenda?" Coming in a little hot now aren't we?

In later comments Rapert proposed exactly how he could put a stop to all of this.

"I can pass a bill to cutoff[sic] all funding for the rebroadcast of PBS programming through AETN and stop all funding for AETN altogether if necessary," he wrote. So ending all PBS programming in Arkansas for one episode? Ok, got it.

"I love a lot of the great programming we have on AETN and have been a defender and champion for them," he continued. "However, if they choose to allow our state taxpayer funded platform to be politicized in this way, they are going to have to make a decision about who they really serve."

This brings to mind what happened last year with Arthur; AETN chose not to air an episode of that show because it depicted a same-sex wedding. Let's see how this shakes out.