'Muppet Babies' Accused of 'Pushing the Trans Agenda'

The children’s television show "Muppet Babies" has been accused of "pushing the trans agenda on children" by conservatives after one character, the muppet Gonzo, was granted his wish to become a "princess" and was shown wearing a dress.

A recent episode of "Muppet Babies" showed Gonzo, a character traditionally depicted as being male, was granted a wish by a "fairy ratfather" to become a "princess" after Gonzo was told that he could not wear a dress by two characters saying that boys are supposed to dress as knights. Gonzo then attends the "royal ball" as "Gonzorella," a fact that the muppet later reveals to the others, who apologize for telling Gonzo he couldn’t wear a dress.

The episode was praised by progressive outlets like the LGBT online newspaper Pink News, but condemned by conservatives, who blasted the show after the episode aired.

"I can’t believe I’m tweeting this but.. they are pushing the trans agenda on children via muppet babies," tweeted conservative commentator Candace Owens. "This is sick and PERVERTED. Everyone should be disturbed by predatory cartoons meant to usher children into gender dysphoria. Bring back manly muppets, anyone?"

"Muppet Babies" executive producer Tom Warburton told the official Disney fan club blog D23 that the episode originated from an idea that the show’s staff didn’t think was a "big deal."

He said, "Very early on, we wanted to do an episode where Gonzo just showed up to the Playroom wearing a skirt. And it was no big deal. No one cared or questioned it because Gonzo is always 200% Gonzo 347% of the time. But then story editor/co-producer Robyn Brown and her team wanted to take it a step further and do a Cinderella story based on the idea. And it was just SO wonderfully Gonzo. We hope he inspires kids watching to be 347% of themselves in their own way, too."

Chris Nee, who created several popular children’s shows including "Doc McStuffins" and "Vampirina" on Disney and "Ridley Jones" on Netflix, told Forbes that she "had to fight" to show a same-sex couple in an episode of "Doc McStuffings" in 2017, noting that "the world has really changed in the past couple years."

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