Can Kermit and Miss Piggy simply represent children without manipulating woke mindsets?
Sesame Street’s Pride Month celebration has sparked a fierce debate over taxpayer-funded children’s programming, with Republican lawmakers calling to defund PBS completely.
Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Mary Miller and Sen. Mike Lee, have called for defunding PBS, claiming it’s “grooming” children.
The Controversial Post That Ignited Debate
On June 1, Sesame Street published a social media post featuring an illustration of Muppet arms linked together in a rainbow pattern with a message emphasizing inclusivity. The post quickly went viral across platforms, drawing significantly different reactions depending on the audience. On Facebook, the post received predominantly positive feedback, with a comment highlighting diverse family structures garnering approximately 5,000 likes. The reaction on X (formerly Twitter) skewed more negative, with several prominent conservative voices expressing strong opposition.
Daily Wire host Michael Knowles was among the most vocal critics, accusing the children’s program of promoting sexual agendas to young viewers. His response on X garnered over 1.4 million views, indicating the significant reach of the controversy. The Heritage Foundation quickly joined the criticism, questioning why taxpayer dollars should continue supporting PBS, the network that distributes Sesame Street, especially following recent White House funding cuts to the public broadcasting service.
Parents, BEWARE!
Sesame Street is grooming your kids.
This show is aimed at TODDLERS and what do they promote?
– covid vaccines
– BLM protests
– transgender kids
– pride month
– lgbtq propagandaGROOMERS. https://t.co/VEyMpxnt7J pic.twitter.com/4mShlAooko
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 1, 2025
Republican Lawmakers Push to Defund PBS
Following the Pride Month post, several Republican legislators intensified calls to completely defund PBS. Representative Mary Miller of Illinois expressed particularly strong sentiments, accusing the public broadcasting network of inappropriate behavior toward children while receiving government funding. Senator Mike Lee of Utah, who has long advocated for pulling taxpayer support from public broadcasting, echoed these concerns with his own pointed criticism.
This controversy has reignited a long-standing Republican effort to eliminate government funding for public media organizations, including both PBS and NPR. In March, Representative Ronny Jackson reintroduced legislation specifically designed to end federal support for these entities. Advocates for defunding consistently cite what they perceive as liberal bias in programming decisions and content that conflicts with conservative values, particularly when aimed at children.
Screw Sesame Street
Screw Pride Month
We are ending Pride month and saving the children from degeneracy being forced on them. Enough is ENOUGHpic.twitter.com/PlUb87bhyN
— Philip Anderson (@VoteHarrisOut) June 2, 2025
The Financial Stakes and Previous Battles
The financial implications of this debate are substantial. Currently, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting receives approximately $500 million annually from Congress, a portion of which supports both PBS and NPR programming. During his administration, President Donald Trump took action on this issue by signing an executive order intended to terminate federal funding for these public broadcasting entities, citing concerns about media bias in their reporting and programming decisions.
Both PBS and NPR responded to the Trump administration’s executive order with legal action, filing lawsuits that contested the president’s authority to dictate programming content. PBS has consistently disputed accusations of bias, arguing that its content reflects educational values rather than political positions. As of the most recent reports, Sesame Street had not issued any formal response to the current backlash, leaving questions about how the program will navigate this latest controversy in the ongoing debate about public broadcasting’s role in American society.