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Fact check: Donald trump is cancelling Sesame Street
1. Summary of the results
The statement requires significant context. While Trump's administration has cancelled the Ready To Learn grant that supported Sesame Street and other PBS children's programs, worth $23 million [1], this doesn't equate to "cancelling Sesame Street" entirely. The show has already been airing on HBO since before these actions [2]. The funding cuts are part of a broader effort to defund NPR and PBS across all 50 states [3], with the Department of Education citing concerns about "racial justice educational programming" [4].
2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints
Several crucial pieces of context are missing from the original statement:
- Sesame Street's relationship with Trump has a long history, including multiple parodies featuring characters like Ronald Grump and Donald Grump since the 1980s [5]
- By 2018, Sesame Street was primarily airing on HBO, making it less dependent on public funding [2]
- The funding cut was part of a larger Republican campaign to weaken public media [6]
- The Ready To Learn grant was set to expire in September anyway, though it was terminated immediately [6]
- Sesame Workshop declared itself "politically agnostic" in 2017 [5]
3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement
The original statement oversimplifies a complex situation and could be misleading in several ways:
- Financial Impact: While federal funding has been cut, this doesn't mean Sesame Street is "cancelled" as it has alternative funding sources through HBO [2]
- Political Motivations: Different sources suggest varying motivations:
- Department of Education cites concerns about racial justice programming [4]
- Some suggest personal retaliation for Trump parodies [7]
- Others frame it as part of a broader Republican strategy against public media [6]
- Beneficiaries of the narrative:
- Conservative politicians benefit from framing this as a stand against "racial justice educational programming" [4]
- Public broadcasting advocates, like Representative Rosa DeLauro, benefit from framing it as an attack on educational programming and community resources [3]
- Private media companies like HBO benefit from the weakening of public broadcasting alternatives