Sesame Street's Pride Month post sparks backlash from Republican lawmakers amid PBS funding threats

Republican lawmakers called to defund PBS aft the tv station’s long-running children’s show, "Sesame Street," celebrated LGBTQ "Pride" Month connected societal media.

The children’s amusement went viral aft it posted a abbreviated connection connected June 1, kicking disconnected Pride Month.

"On our street, everyone is welcome. Together, let’s physique a satellite wherever each idiosyncratic and household feels loved and respected for who they are. Happy #PrideMonth!" Sesame Street’s X post read.

The station reached implicit 23 cardinal views and sparked disapproval from conservatives, who slammed the kids' amusement for turning "woke."

"Sesame Street" drew backlash online aft celebrating "Pride" Month connected societal media. (The Associated Press)

NPR, PBS HONCHOS FACE TENSE GRILLING BY GOP LAWMAKERS OVER BIASED COVERAGE, TAXPAYER FUNDING

In response, Republican legislators called connected PBS, which has been the humanities location of Sesame Street for implicit 50 years, to suffer its national funding. 

"PBS is shamelessly grooming our children portion collecting payer dollars. This is evil and should infuriate each genitor successful America. DEFUND!!" Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., posted to X.

"Federal funds aren’t for grooming. Through Sesame Street characters oregon otherwise. Defund PBS," Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, posted to his idiosyncratic X account successful reply to a video of a 2020 occurrence of "The Not-Too-Late Show" with Elmo featuring Johnathan Van Ness of Netflix’s "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy."

Van Ness is besides scheduled to appear arsenic a personage impermanent connected Sesame Street this season.

Sesame Street's Pride Month station read, "On our street, everyone is welcome. Together, let’s physique a satellite wherever each idiosyncratic and household feels loved and respected for who they are. Happy #PrideMonth." (Getty Images)

DEMOCRATS INVOKE CHILDREN’S SHOWS IN BIZARRE DEFENSE OF PBS, NPR: ‘FIRE ELON, SAVE ELMO’

Miller's bureau did not instantly instrumentality a petition for remark asking wherefore they believed "Sesame Street" was "grooming" children with their post.

Lee's bureau told Fox News Digital the legislator has been a accordant advocator of pulling payer dollars from PBS for galore years. 

Republicans successful Congress person agelong tried to propulsion authorities backing from nationalist media organizations NPR and PBS that they reason are liberally biased.

PBS and Sesame Street did not instantly instrumentality Fox News Digital’s petition for comment.

In March, Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, reintroduced a measure to defund NPR and PBS, saying they person been "pushing Democrat talking points nether the fake banner of ‘public media.’"

PBS sued the White House aft President Trump signed an enforcement bid calling to slash its payer funding. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images; REUTERS/Nathan Howard)

DEFUNDING PBS AND NPR COULD MAKE THEM EVEN WORSE

President Donald Trump besides signed an enforcement bid on May 1 with the extremity of eradicating national backing for NPR and PBS. The order, titled "Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media," called for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) Board to cease nonstop and indirect backing to the 2 media outlets.

"At the precise least, Americans person the close to expect that if their taxation dollars money nationalist broadcasting astatine all, they money lone fair, accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan quality coverage. No media outlet has a law close to payer subsidies," the order reads.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) receives astir $500 cardinal annually from Congress to administer to nationalist vigor and TV stations, with immoderate of that backing going to enactment NPR and PBS.

Republicans successful Congress person made respective attempts to propulsion authorities backing from PBS and NPR implicit the years. (llison Robbert/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

PBS SUES TRUMP ADMINISTRATION, SAYS EXECUTIVE ORDER CUTTING FEDERAL FUNDING VIOLATES FIRST AMENDMENT

PBS and NPR responded to the enforcement bid by filing lawsuits against the Trump medication successful May.

"[In] an Executive Order issued connected May 1, 2025, the President declared that authorities backing of backstage sources of non-commercial media is ‘corrosive,’ and singled retired PBS (alongside National Public Radio) arsenic failing to supply 'fair, accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan news,'" the tribunal filing obtained by Fox News Digital reads. 

"PBS disputes those charged assertions successful the strongest imaginable terms. But careless of immoderate argumentation disagreements implicit the relation of nationalist television, our Constitution and laws forbid the President from serving arsenic the arbiter of the contented of PBS’s programming, including by attempting to defund PBS," it continued.

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Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.