Theodore Seuss Geisel, better known as the pen name Dr. Seuss, is most notably an American children’s author who published over 60 children’s books since 1937. The late Dr. Seuss has become one of the best-selling children’s authors even today. You’ll still find some of his most popular titles on Amazon’s bestseller list.
Theodore Seuss Geisel was also an illustrator, cartoonist, animator, poet, and filmmaker. In addition to producing children’s books, he was a political cartoonist during World War II and worked as an animator and producer for the United States Army.
After a successful career, Dr. Suess passed in 1991 and was survived by his wife, Audrey, who began Seuss Enterprises in 1993. Suess Enterprises continues to retain all licensure and publication rights to all of Dr. Seuss’s works and is now led by CEO Susan Brandt.
Though his most popular children’s books like Green Eggs and Ham and Oh, The Places You’ll Go still live on, 6 of his titles have recently been ‘canceled’ for accusations of racial imagery. These six books are And To Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street, If I Ran The Zoo, McElligot’s Pool On Beyond Zebra!, Scrambled Eggs Super!, and The Cat’s Quizzer.
Previously, Theodore Seuss Geisel has been criticized for his political cartoons using racial slurs and images. He also performed in blackface during college, which some experts believe inspired the cat in The Cat in the Hat.
Fast forward to this year, when in preparation for Read Across America Day, a day lined up purposefully with Dr. Seuss’s birthday, a Virginia school district announced that it will not be emphasizing Dr. Seuss’s books due to the underlying racial tones. This is contrary to previously focusing primarily on these books since Reading Across America began in 1998.
There are several points of the wording and imagery that are in question:
- And To Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street contains imagery of a person of Asian descent wearing a stereotypical conical hat with slanted eyes while using chopsticks to eat from a bowl.
- If I Ran the Zoo portrays two African men barefooted, wearing grass skirts with their hair tied above their head.
The other titles were removed for similar imagery and wording that some claim, promotes racial stereotyping.
In the media, this riled up a storm, causing schools across America to take a look at the appropriateness of the Seuss works. As the day drew closer to the time of Reading Across America kicks off, it was time for the presidential speech. Every year, the president gives a speech for Reading Across America. This year, Biden did not bring up Dr. Seuss, though all of his predecessors have.
On March 2nd, conveniently Dr. Seuss’s birthday and Reading Across America Day, Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced that they would no longer be licensing or publishing 6 of the titles accused of including racial imagery and comments.
Right after the announcement, eBay began delisting the books claiming they negatively portrayed certain ethnicities. Yet eBay continues to sell Mein Kampf, a book by Adolf Hitler with led to the deaths of millions of Jews and Gypsies. Also on sale at eBay, thousands of products by Cardi B who rose to fame on her single WAP (Wet Ass Pussy). So for Jamie Iannone, CEO of eBay, books by Doctor Seuss are more offensive than works by Adolf Hitler and Cardi B.
However, the final decision to cancel the books was made by Susan Brandt, CEO of Doctor Seuss Enterprises, pictured above. Since 2012, Brandt has grown Dr. Seuss Enterprises to over $33 million in annual revenue from her offices overlooking La Jolla, California. Unlike many business who have to manufacture goods, or provide services, Dr. Seuss Enterprises makes money licensing the works of the late, Theodor Seuss Geisel, so the company is wildly profitable.
And many have profited. Reed Hastings, founder of Netflix, signed off on a $65 million animated series based on "Green Eggs & Ham". The series stars Michael Douglas, Adam Devine, Jillian Bell and other Hollywood heavyweights. Actor Jim Carrey, has made a reported 20 million dollars from his portrayal of the Dr. Seuss character The Grinch.
With so many White people making millions from children's stories, some have surmised that it was only a matter of time before somebody got accused of racism. Why not make it the dead guy?
Theodor Seuss Geisel died in 1993. Shortly afterwards, his second wife, Audrey, started Dr. Seuss Enterprises. Audrey Geisel was not without controversy herself before dying at age 97 in 2018. She is reported to have been the mistress of Theodor Seuss before his first wife committed suicide.
What does all of this have to do with Cancel Culture? Well, when White people become fabulously rich with little merit, they become easy targets for accusations of all sorts, and they will gladly sign big checks to avoid attention. And an entire industry has grown up around cashing those checks.
The controversy around Dr. Seuss began a few years ago with a group called Learning for Justice who stands for teaching anti-racial material at ages as young as five. They cited Dr. Seuss as having racial imagery and moved for it to be pulled from libraries and school systems. Nothing was done at that time, though it did spark a conversation regarding children’s literature and the representation of race.
Learning for Justice is run by Jalaya Liles Dunn, who was recently appointed to the position of Director of the Teaching Tolerance Program at the Southern Policy Law Center (SPLC). The SPLC itself has been accused of the mistreatment of women and minorities, however, to our knowledge, nobody is calling for the SPLC to be canceled.
This goes to show the power of Cancel Culture. Once an easy target has been identified, in this case Susan Brandt, a group of "virtuous" accusers steps in to stake their claim. Innstead of continuing her path of reaching as many children as possible, Susan Brandt shut down the more unpopular titles in what looks like an attempt to avoid being canceled altogether.
There is another factor to be considered. In what manner do we preserve materials as a part of cultural history? Of course, anything that is actively produced when the social climate has changed should not be acceptable, but the “racist imagery” of Dr. Seuss’ books was produced in a social environment that was much different and has even changed with the times.
You could argue that his works changed with the world around him, and it’s easy to wonder what his books would look like today if he could still produce.
Though Dr. Seuss has almost always remained on Amazon’s Best Seller list for children’s books through the years, nine out of the ten bestsellers became Dr. Seuss’s titles after the announcement that they were pulling them.
It seems that the attention around him being canceled has spiked sales of his other works.
However, libraries and bookstores are contemplating on whether or not to pull the existing copies from the shelves.
Though currently, there appears to be many people rushing out to buy the copies that were “canceled” because of their perceived value in the future after they are no longer published for awhile.
In the end, it is unlikely that pulling these titles will even make a dent in the Seuss Enterprises’ 75 million dollar bottom line, as the best-selling works are unscathed for now.
Dr. Seuss and his legacy will live on in children’s lives, as it has for many years, though threatening a well-loved and favorite childhood author, has further propelled the movement combatting Cancel Culture.
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