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Restaurant chain Pizza Hut is facing criticism and boycott calls after recommending a book about a child drag queen in its reading program for children.
The recommendation was made as part of the company’s BOOK IT program that aims to encourage reading in schools nationwide. This year’s program began on June 1, and the company included a book called “Big Wig” in its recommendations, which is about a young boy protagonist who decides to dress in drag during a costume competition.
In an email sent as part of the program launch, the company said that the recommended books explore the “uniqueness” of every person, celebrating “individuality” and encouraging children to see what “makes us different, makes us special,” according to the Washington Examiner.
Big Wig, written by Minnesota author Jonathan Hillman, “celebrates drag kids,” individuality, and self-confidence from the “perspective of a fabulous wig,” said publisher Simon & Schuster on their website.
“When a child dresses in drag to compete in a neighborhood costume competition, he becomes B. B. Bedazzle!” the description of the book says. “A key part of B.B. Bedazzle’s ensemble is a wig called Wig. Together they are an unstoppable drag queen team!”
“But Wig feels inadequate compared to the other, bigger wigs. When Wig flies off B. B.’s head, she goes from kid to kid instilling confidence and inspiring dreams in those who wear her.”
After the popular Twitter account “Libs of TikTok” brought attention to Pizza Hut’s “Big Wig” recommendation, the backlash began.
Brigitte Gabriel, founder and chairman of ACT For America, a grassroots movement dedicated to preserving America’s culture, sovereignty, and security, called on making “full woke” Pizza Hut “full broke.”
Nick Adams, President of the Foundation for Liberty & American Greatness (FLAG), slammed Pizza Hut for having “betrayed” the American people in a June 4 tweet. He asked “every single American” to boycott “woke pizza.”
Joe Pags Pagliarulo, a syndicated talk show host, asked whether Pizza Hut is “looking to lose millions of customers” by promoting the queer book to children.
“Pizza Hut was started in Wichita and mostly funded by Kansans. These folks would be appalled that their amazing American success story is part of the effort to destroy America and her children. These companies need to realize we won’t use their products any longer,” Matt Schlapp, chairman of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the largest annual gathering of conservatives in the world, said in a June 3 tweet.
Pizza Hut did not respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment by publication time.
In addition to the Pizza Hut book promotion, several incidents of pushing drag literature and entertainment on children have popped up of late.
The Ramstein U.S. Air Force Base in Germany canceled a June 2 event called “Drag Queen Story Time” aimed at children after Republican Senator Marco Rubio wrote a letter asking for canceling of what he called “public-funded propaganda.”
Last month, insurance giant State Farm pulled off from a program that involved giving transgender books to schools after it faced backlash.
