Six Dr. Seuss books pulled for racist and insensitive imagery

The National Education Association announced it will no longer publish six Dr. Seuss books due to enforcing racist imagery depicting Blacks and Asians. CNBC's Scott Cohn joins 'The News with Shepard Smith' to report. For access to live and exclusive video from CNBC subscribe to CNBC PRO: https://cnb.cx/2NGeIvi

Books by Dr. Seuss have flooded Amazon’s U.S. bestseller list after it was announced that six of the author’s publications were being pulled over racist imagery.

“The Cat in the Hat” is currently the bestselling book on Amazon’s U.S. store, closely followed by “One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish” and “Green Eggs and Ham,” along with several other titles by the late Theodor Seuss Geisel. In total, 15 Dr. Seuss publications were in Amazon’s top 20 list on Friday morning.

“Green Eggs and Ham” and “The Cat in the Hat” also appeared in Amazon Canada’s top 10 bestselling books list.

This comes after Dr. Seuss Enterprises, the business running the late author’s estate, said Tuesday it made the decision last year to cease publication and licensing of six of his books: ″And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” “If I Ran the Zoo,” “McElligot’s Pool,” “On Beyond Zebra!,” “Scrambled Eggs Super!” and “The Cat’s Quizzer.”

“These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong,” Dr. Seuss Enterprises said in the statement, with some of the author’s books having faced criticism in recent years over racist imagery.

The announcement came on Read Across America Day on Tuesday, which would have been Geisel’s 117th birthday and has been associated with the author.

President Joe Biden left any mention of Dr. Seuss out of his Read Across America Day proclamation on Monday, signaling a further distancing from the author. Former Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama mentioned Dr. Seuss in their previous speeches.

After rumors of a ban on Dr. Seuss books, the school district of Loudoun County, Virginia, issued a statement last weekend to clarify that it hadn’t done so but had provided “guidance to schools during the past couple of years to not connect Read Across America Day exclusively with Dr. Seuss’ birthday.”

“Research in recent years has revealed strong racial undertones in many books written/illustrated by Dr. Seuss,” the statement said.

» Subscribe to CNBC TV: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBCtelevision
» Subscribe to CNBC: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBC
» Subscribe to CNBC Classic: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBCclassic

Turn to CNBC TV for the latest stock market news and analysis. From market futures to live price updates CNBC is the leader in business news worldwide.

The News with Shepard Smith is CNBC’s daily news podcast providing deep, non-partisan coverage and perspective on the day’s most important stories. Available to listen by 8:30pm ET / 5:30pm PT daily beginning September 30: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/29/the-news-with-shepard-smith-podcast.html?__source=youtube%7Cshepsmith%7Cpodcast

Connect with CNBC News Online
Get the latest news: http://www.cnbc.com/
Follow CNBC on LinkedIn: https://cnb.cx/LinkedInCNBC
Follow CNBC News on Facebook: https://cnb.cx/LikeCNBC
Follow CNBC News on Twitter: https://cnb.cx/FollowCNBC
Follow CNBC News on Instagram: https://cnb.cx/InstagramCNBC

https://www.cnbc.com/select/best-credit-cards/

#CNBC
#CNBCTV