Alabama Public Television Refuses to air the Arthur Gay Marriage Episode

You no doubt have heard about or even saw the recent "Arthur" episode that featured a same-sex marriage on PBS.

During Arthur's 22nd season premiere, titled “Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone," Arthur's third-grade teacher, Mr. Ratburn, marries a man named Patrick at a wedding attended by his students Arthur, Francine, Buster and Muffy. It aired May 13.

However, if you lived in Alabama, you didn't see it and won't!

Mike McKenzie, director of programming at APT, told NBC News on Monday that PBS sent a message to stations in mid-April alerting them "to possible viewer concerns about the content of the program." After he and others at APT viewed the episode, they decided not to broadcast it and showed a rerun instead.

McKenzie said the station has no plans to air it.

Also in 2005, APT pulled an episode of "Postcards From Buster," a spinoff of "Arthur," in the episode where Buster met a girl who had two mothers.

You can read more on their statement here.

Do you agree with their decision?

Photo Credit: 2019 WGBH and PBS KIDS