Biggs Condemns PBS 'Grooming' Children, Demands Its Defunding

Rep. Andy Biggs

Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ) condemned the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) for "grooming children" in a recent post on X (formerly Twitter), demanding the organization lose its federal funding.

"PBS is grooming children on American taxpayers' dime. This is unacceptable. Congress must defund them and hold the executives accountable," Rep. Biggs said in his post, responding to a clip from Sesame Street posted by a user named Patriot Oasis.

In the clip, characters Elmo and Cookie Monster appear with media personality Jonathan Van Ness, best known for the television series Queer Eye, clad in a pink sweater, fake horns, and what seems to be a black leather skirt, as they host a "monster makeover."

The Trump Administration has sought to defund PBS and National Public Radio (NPR) in recent weeks via an executive order, saying, "No media outlet has a constitutional right to taxpayer subsidies, and the Government is entitled to determine which categories of activities to subsidize."

"Which viewpoints NPR and PBS promote does not matter. What does matter is that neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to tax-paying citizens," the executive order continued.

PBS and NPR are both suing the Trump Administration in response, with PBS saying, "After careful deliberation, PBS reached the conclusion that it was necessary to take legal action to safeguard public television's editorial independence and to protect the autonomy of PBS member stations."

NPR similarly claimed that the executive order "violates the Separation of Powers and the Spending Clause by disregarding Congress's express commands."

Sexualized media content in kid-friendly shows has been a concern of Republican lawmakers in recent years, with our sister site, The Floridian, covering a prominent example in August 2022.

As we noted, the kids' series Jurassic Park: Camp Cretaceous features two underage female characters kissing on the mouth despite the series being rated TV-PG.

Grayson Bakich

Florida born and raised, Grayson Bakich is a recent recipient of a Master’s Degree in Political Science at the University of Central Florida. His thesis examined recent trends in political polarization and how this leads into justification of violence.