Netflix has canceled its preschool cartoon “Ridley Jones” after facing severe backlash over a young bison character coming out as “non-binary.”
The show is marketed for two to four-year-olds.
The new season was released on March 6 and featured a female bison, Winifred, who wanted to be called Fred and use “they/them” pronouns. The episode portrays the young character’s concerns about coming out as nonbinary to her grandmother, voiced by Cyndi Lauper.
“Grandma doesn’t know I changed. She still thinks I’m her granddaughter instead of her grandFred…I do want to tell her,” Fred tells the main character Ridley.
“My heart says that the way I feel most myself is to go by the name ‘Fred.’ That’s because I’m nonbinary, and Fred is the name that fits me best. And I also use ‘they’ and ‘them,’ because calling me she or a he doesn’t feel right to me,” Winifred says in the episode.
I can’t get over how much this sucks. Cancel your Netflix subscription. pic.twitter.com/PcGwXAWDMl
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) March 14, 2023
The episode quickly went viral and sparked calls for people to cancel their Netflix subscriptions.
If you’re not curating what your kids are watching
You’d better keep your fingers crossed real tight. pic.twitter.com/rYjv9qAjcM
— Kevin Burch | Elite Parenting 🇬🇧 (@kevinburch) March 14, 2023
Kevin Burch of “Elite Parenting” warned parents to be vigilant about what their children are exposed to, even in children’s cartoons.
Also please note the only “grooming” happening is Fred grooming their mane into little horn shapes to be more masc. We stan pic.twitter.com/PM88H0gOeD
— Mia Resella (@MiaResella) March 10, 2023
This wasn’t the first time Winifred’s identity was the focus of an episode. In a season two episode called “Bison Ball,” Fred refused to wear a ballgown and insisted on wearing a suit.
The show was created by Chris Nee, best known for being the mind behind Doc McStuffins. She is also a lesbian and a mother.
After the new season was released, Nee went on Twitter and urged people to show the episode to their young children — and claimed that it received no promotion from Netflix.
I realize in this day and age dumped means many things. Just zero promotion of the episode. So go watch it. Show your kids. It’s on Netflix. It’s important. It’s a a roadmap for coming out but also for having someone else tell you they’ve changed their pronouns and/or name. pic.twitter.com/D7r4Ym8Scp
— Chris Nee (She/Her)🏳️🌈 (@chrisdocnee) March 9, 2023
“I realize in this day and age dumped means many things,” Nee tweeted. “Just zero promotion of the episode. So go watch it. Show your kids. It’s on Netflix. It’s important. It’s a roadmap for coming out but also for having someone else tell you they’ve changed their pronouns and/or name.”
Nee tweeted on March 8, two days after the new season dropped, that the show was done.
“Doesn’t surprise me that Netflix has quietly dumped the first preschool show that has a non-binary character coming out,” Nee wrote. “Ridley Jones 5 episode Happy Herd Day Fred tells their Grandma played by #CyndiLauper that they’ve changed their name and pronouns. Watch it. Tweet about it.”
Oh and yes, this is the end of the series. They cancelled us after what they just put out. They threw all the specials, the xmas special (now?), the feature length special, the CYNDI LAUPER episode and just quietly slipped it onto the service. So this is it.
— Chris Nee (She/Her)🏳️🌈 (@chrisdocnee) March 9, 2023
Nee added, “Oh and yes, this is the end of the series. They cancelled us after what they just put out. They threw all the specials, the xmas special (now?), the feature length special, the CYNDI LAUPER episode and just quietly slipped it onto the service. So this is it.”
Netflix has not yet commented on its reason for cancelation.
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Timcast News has reached out to the streaming platform for comment and will update this article if one is provided.
