'Paw Patrol' facing pressure to give Chase the police dog the boot
Twitter users targeting the Nickelodeon cartoon catches the attention of The New York Times; reaction and analysis on 'Outnumbered.'
Any criticism of Nickelodeon's popular children's' show "Paw Patrol" as pro-police propaganda is unfounded, Fox Business host Charles Payne asserted Thursday.
Appearing on "Outnumbered" with host Melissa Francis, Payne remarked that his five grandkids love "Paw Patrol."
"Particularly my oldest grandson loves it, loves it, loves it," he noted.
REPORTED OUTRAGE TOWARD NICKELODEON CARTOON 'PAW PATROL' SPARKS WILD REACTIONS ONLINE
The show, however, drew criticism and outrage last week over a Twitter post by #BlackOutTuesday – a social media movement which intended to amplify black voices – when commenters angrily attacked Chase, "Paw Patrol's" good boy German shepherd police officer.
“Euthanize the police dog,” they urged. “Defund the paw patrol.”
“All dogs go to Heaven, except the class traitors in the Paw Patrol," one user wrote.
A New York Times pop culture critic wrote that while comments were intended as jokes, they also were not.
"As the protests against racist police violence enter their third week, the charges are mounting against fictional cops, too. Even big-hearted cartoon police dogs – or maybe especially big-hearted cartoon police dogs – are on notice," wrote Amanda Hess. "The effort to publicize police brutality also means banishing the good-cop archetype, which reigns on both television and in viral videos of the protests themselves."
“'Paw Patrol' seems harmless enough, and that’s the point: The movement rests on understanding that cops do plenty of harm," she noted.
Payne, however, said that Hess's narrative was "beyond despicable."
"But, this is a narrative that we have seen particularly from the left and I’ve heard it my whole life. There are good white people. They’re called Democrats. There are bad white people. They’re called Republicans," he pointed out.
"Now, there’s not even such [a] thing as a good police officer when the fact of the matter is … 99 percent plus are amazing," Payne exclaimed. "They do amazing things to keep us safe."
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Payne conceded that while there are some "bad apples" out there, the "blue wall of silence must go," and there must be better training for departments, the notion that officers who put their lives on the line for their communities every day are villains is ridiculous.
"I love Paw Patrol and they better take their hands off it," he warned.