DailyKenn.com — Two episodes of the once popular SpongeBob SquarePants animated series have been pulled from circulation. The episodes were considered potentially harmful to East Asians.
The episodes were deemed improper because they made light of coronavirus and may not have been inclusive. Critics noted that the insensitivity could stoke violence against East Asians, who some believe have been unfairly blamed for the virus that originated Wuhan, China.
That presents the question: Is blaming an animated cartoon trivializing extreme violence against East Asians and avoiding the core problem?
Reality is that East Asians were targets of violence long before the so-called "China flu" existed.
Cullen was kidnapped after winning at bingo near St. Louis, Missouri.
"Cullen’s bludgeoned and charred remains were found in the trunk of her burned-up car two days after she was carjacked as she left a bingo game at Firemen’s Hall in Collinsville," according to stltoday.com. "Authorities believe Cullen was forced into her trunk, beaten with a tire iron, then burned alive for her bingo winnings and a credit card. Police found that soot had coated Cullen’s trachea, indicating she was alive when her car was torched."
Charged in that crime were LaTosha Cunningham, DaQuan D. Barnes, and Demarcus Barnes.
Excerpted from dailymail.co.uk ▼
Beloved children's cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants is under fire for two previous episodes, which have since been pulled from streaming services.
The decision comes as the rise in anti-Asian discrimination and violence linked to the coronavirus pandemic rocks the United States, which one of the two pulled episodes arguably touched upon.
It's the latest in a move toward sanitizing cultural staples that are now seen by some to be offensive: The company that looks after Dr. Seuss's books said it would stop publishing six of them that they said were racially problematic. And Hasbro said it would stop branding its line of potato toys as 'Mr. Potato Head' to make room for same-sex and single-parent variations.
200 latest news reports from 100 top conservative websites