Ben Shapiro (screen capture)Last week, Build-A-Bear announced a new collaboration with RuPaul for a new line of RuPaul bears for their 18+ website, The Bear Cave.
Even though the drag bears are specifically listed as being for the store’s 18 and older customers (complete with age acknowledgment required for access), anti-LGBTQ far-right commentator Ben Shapiro had a meltdown over the news.
(image via Build-A-Bear)Transcript via Mediaite:
“So, you know, when they say that they’re not coming after the kids, that’s a lie – they’re coming after the kids. Apparently Build-A-Bear, which is a store that I’ve taken my kids to a lot, right? This is where you actually go to the store and they have sort of these kind of teddy bear skins, and you get the filling and you fill the bear and you take it home. And the kids love it. It’s really fun.”
“They’ve decided that they need to drag queen the kids. So Build-A-Bear Workshop is now offering a new RuPaul drag queen bear, which makes perfect sense because you definitely need to teach your kids about boys who dress up as girls.”
[snip]
“Why Build-A-Bear feels the necessity to do this – again, this is a product design for children – is beyond me, except that all of our cultural arbiters have decided that all of this is the most important thing that you can possibly do.”
After far-right loons began criticizing Build-A-Bear for the new addition, a link on the company’s main page has been removed although the product is still available in the Bear Cave.
Ben Shapiro: "When they say they're not coming after the kids, that's a lie. They're coming after the kids. Apparently Build-A-Bear…they've decided that they need to drag queen the kids" pic.twitter.com/cDZk57xCD1
— Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) April 5, 2023