Arkansas’ Republican state senator suggested defunding public television in his state because an openly gay actor and LGTBQ activist will appear on a legendary television staple.
Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award winner Billy Porter was announced to appear as a guest on the upcoming 51st season of “Sesame Street” last week.
And some weren’t thrilled about the news, which the long-running children’s series announced on social media, replete with production images of Porter wearing his iconic tuxedo gown at the 2019 Academy Awards.
In addition to signing a petition started by Canadian right-wing website Lifesite News that claims to have over 38,000 signatures demanding the show not to air the episode featuring the “Pose” star, Arkansas Sen. Jason Rapert took to social media to join the fray.
The 2022 Arkansas lieutenant governor hopeful posted to Facebook that Porter’s appearance on “Sesame Street” is part of the “radical LGBTQ agenda” and suggested that public funding for the show should be canceled.
In the comments on the post, Rapert said that he wants to cut funding from AETN, which is Arkansas’s PBS affiliate and headquartered in his district in Conway.
“I can pass a bill to cutoff all funding for the rebroadcast of PBS programming through AETN and also stop all funding for AETN altogether if necessary,” he wrote. ‘”Fiscal Session starts April 8th.”
Claiming to have been “a defender and champion for” public broadcasting, the 47-year-old Maynard, Ark., native stated that allowing a gay man in a dress on a children’s TV show is a step too far.
“However, if they [AETN] choose to allow our state taxpayer funded platform to be politicized in this way, they are going to have to make a decision about who they really serve,” he wrote.
And then things got religious.
When a commenter asked Rapert if Jesus would “approve of [his] judgment and intolerance,” Rapert responded: “You are totally amiss and you know it. Christians do not support anti-Biblical behavior. The Bible is clear on certain sins — including homosexuality.”
He said that Jesus “never endorsed homosexual behavior” and then brought up “Sodom and Gomorrah.”
“Speaking the truth is not hatred,” Rapert concluded. “If you oppose the Bible, you are not a sincere Christian.”
Rapert, a Tea Party supporter, has served public office since 2011 and has towed the political party lines on staunch positions on reproductive laws, LGTBQ issues and even medical marijuana.
In 2015, the former UPS worker came under fire for warning his constituents about approaching him “in a parking lot” while he was “carrying a hand gun.”
Porter, who was born and raised in Pittsburgh and called “little preacher man” as a youngster for his expressive espousal of Bible verses, isn’t giving Rapert and his lot any more steam.
“I don’t have any time to think about homophobes and racists,” told The New York Daily News on Thursday evening. “My life is way too good for that hateful drama.”
Earlier in the afternoon, it was announced that the “Kinky Boots” powerhouse will co-host “The Oscars Red Carpet Show,” the official pre-show for Hollywood’s biggest night, on Sunday. Award-winning journalist and talk show host Tamron Hall, supermodel Lily Aldridge and film critic Elvis Mitchell will join Porter for the show airing Sunday at 6:30 p.m.
