A new set of cartoons for kids called ''Cartoonito'' that Warner Media debuted Monday on the Cartoon Network and HBO Max aims to ''support every child's humanness by celebrating their unique selves'' with original shows that ''empowers individuality and aims to be the place where kids are free to be themselves,'' and focus on diversity, according to the company.
The new shows include a production by talk show host Ellen DeGeneres called ''Little Ellen,'' as well as ''Mush-Mush & the Mushables'' and ''Bea's Block,'' that are, according to the company, inspired by positive psychology and 21st-century learning.
''It really is about leaning into our humanity and helping children be the best humans they can be,'' Laura Brown, an educational psychologist who worked with Warner Bros. on the framework design for Cartoonito, said in an Associated Press report.
According to a Breitbart report, the ''Little Ellen'' shows will include same-sex couples and deal with other ''woke'' issues.
The show follows a 7-year-old Ellen and her friends in her native New Orleans and teaches children to ''manage their emotions and be resilient and optimistic.''
''It's these sweet little characters that always have the best intentions and are hopefully teaching kindness and supporting one another, and everything that a cartoon should be,'' DeGeneres told the AP. ''But it just happens to have a couple of characters that have same-sex parents. which is great. I think it's always important for kids to be exposed to what is reality. This is reality. It's supportive.''
Amy Friedman, head of kids and family programming at Warner Bros., said the characters are created to mirror ''the real world,'' but are not there to pursue a social agenda.
''We are not aiming to push boundaries. We are aiming to be very intentional about what it is that we're showing and saying, and what the kids are learning,'' Friedman said. ''We are lucky to be able to be starting this at a time when we are all so much clearer now about what representation looks like.''
According to the company, the Cartoonito set is debuting with a mobile tour that will donate some 10,000 backpacks filled with school supplies and creativity kits that will be distributed by the Kids in Need Foundation between Sept. 18 and Oct. 10.
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