Fox Nation premieres new special: 'Closing the Book: The Cancelation of Dr. Seuss'
Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce explores author's life, sudden firestorm over his books
Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce will host a new Fox Nation special exploring the latest casualty of the left's cancel culture, the late children's author Theodor Geisel -- better known as "Dr. Seuss."
Last year more than 6 million Dr. Seuss books were sold in America. Today they are being banned. In the special, Bruce studied the life and career of the beloved children’s book author.
Bruce spoke with political commentator Dave Rubin, of "The Rubin Report", who recalled his parents reading him the author's works as a child.
Rubin remarked that "Oh, The Places You Will Go" is likely one of Seuss' scariest books.
"You have brains in your head, you have feet in your shoes, you can steer yourself any direction you choose -- you are the guy who will decide where to go," Rubin read.
He said that the message of independent thought and behavior therein is "the most dangerous message for progressives and the left, and people who love government."
While many Democrats have joined in on cancel culture, the Fox Nation special noted that it was only a few years ago that then-First Lady Michelle Obama read "The Cat In The Hat" to children during a 2015 "Read Across America" event.
Read Across America, until this year, has commemorated Seuss' March 2, 1904, birthday. President Biden removed references to the late author from this year's event.
"Tucker Carlson Tonight" host Tucker Carlson was quoted during the Fox Nation special, as he remarked on his program last month that though Seuss' critics cry 'racism', the left's true motive for targeting Seuss is that he was anything but racist:
"Its intentional," Carlson said. "[They're] banning Dr. Seuss not because he was a racist, but precisely because he wasn't."
One illustration Seuss is posthumously under fire for is that of "a Chinese man who eats with sticks" -- which captions the drawing of a man with slanted eyes and yellow skin wearing a conical hat.
In other recorded remarks featured in "Closing the Book," Fox News host Jesse Watters noted that by removing Dr. Seuss from public discourse, the left is successfully removing yet another historical frame of reference.
In turn, "The Five" panelist said, they are "creating a liberal culture they control and profit from."
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Bruce noted that Seuss' first published work, "And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street" was one of the books that Dr. Seuss Enterprises, the business that owns the author's rights, removed from circulation.
"These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong," Dr. Seuss Enterprises told The Associated Press in a statement that coincided with the late author and illustrator’s birthday.
"Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ catalog represents and supports all communities and families," it said.
The other books affected are "McElligot’s Pool," "On Beyond Zebra!," "Scrambled Eggs Super!," "If I Ran The Zoo" and "The Cat’s Quizzer."
During the Fox Nation special, Bruce also took a closer look at Seuss' life, and what led him to publish his unique catalog of works.
As a child in Massachusetts, Seuss' mother had him draw images of animals he saw after visiting the Zoo. However, the pictures often had no similarities between the giraffes and zebras he visited. Those images, Bruce said, laid the groundwork for the characters he would create later in life.
He later became the editor of the Dartmouth College humor magazine, and afterward met his wife while attending Oxford College in England.
Upon returning to the United States, his cartoons were published in the Saturday Evening Post and Life Magazine.
In 1937, he sought to publish his first book, "And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street" -- but was turned down by 27 publishers.
On his way to discard the manuscript, he ran into an old friend from Dartmouth who said he had just taken a job at the left-leaning publisher Vanguard Press.
That chance encounter led "Mulberry Street" to go commercial and led to many more titles down the line.
Forbes listed Seuss as No. 2 on its highest-paid dead celebrities of 2020, behind only Michael Jackson.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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