It’s almost as if creating a piece of media that glorifies the worst aspects of human nature atracts the worst kinds of people!

So, obviously spewing racist shit is awful. Those people should absolutely be banned. I shouldn’t even need to preface my comment with this, but just so we’re clear.

A minor quibble to add to the big-picture criticisms others have already expressed so well, but where’s this coming from?

Mr. Rogers knew he was gay when they made this segment. Not only was he sharing water with a black man during the era of segregated pools, he was sharing water with a gay man during the era of active criminalization of gays. He told him he was proud of him. The rest of the world didn’t know until later, but Mr. Rogers…

He did pragmatically admit the reality of the situation. If he kept going out to gay bars, he’d get outed and fired. That was the reality and completely out of Roger’s hands.

Exactly- understand that we would not be where we are now progressively if Mr Rogers had not been equally (or more) progressive for his time.

This. I’m old enough to remember that until 1969, the men arrested in police nuisance raids of gay bars would have their names published in the daily newspaper, often resulting in losing jobs. Rogers wasn’t rejecting him - he was looking out for him (and the show). Also worth noting that the marriage-for-appearances…

Well, what do you think Rogers was going to do/say? Especially as the host of a children’s program in the late 1960s? It’s actually remarkable that he kept him on. In the mid-70s, my middle school fired an openly gay teacher because parents complained. Being gay was incredibly difficult during that time; Rogers’…

Holy Christmas, Rich. It was the 1960s. And you want to throw Mr. Rogers under the bus for speaking true about the realities of the time? For acknowledging that an openly gay Black man would not fly on a children’s program?

GTFO.

Agreed, he was a VERY good man and a very important part of my childhood. I consider myself lucky that I got to see his shows as they came out each week growing up. Fred was still a man, filled with faults and failures but he is STILL one of the best examples out there.

I remember in the 80s, I loved Pee Wee’s Playhouse and my uncle would tell my father I shouldn’t watch it because GAY.

Honestly if this is the worst we ever unearth about Mr Rogers I’ll take it

I see what you’re going for here Rich, but you didn’t stick the landing. You kind of look like way more of an asshole than Rogers. Strong attempt to shit on a good guy though.

Yeah, remember how accusing someone of being a communist would cause them to lose their job in entertainment and commit suicide just ten years earlier than this?

But still, it illustrates the finite nature of Mr. Rogers’s ideals. “I like you just the way you are,” he often said, but in the case of Clemmons there was a caveat: “...I just need you to show less of the way you are.” This information through the lens of contemporary culture, in which an employer legislating what…

I think we have a problem today where we too often take the lens of our current sensibilities and cultural landscape and then look back on the past, judging it from our perspective alone.

Yes.

I don’t see where you’ve also acknowledged that there was a production company and PBS making the show and therefore would have reacted strongly against an openly gay man working on a childrens show. There was probably a threat of cancelling the whole show, and perhaps that is why Fred Rogers reacted the way he did.…

Wow. You’ve even tried to turn mr Rodgers into not liberal enough for you. Gtfoutta here. Is nothing good enough? I hate Jezebel now.

I don’t think the mom said that to be cute or charming.