Joy Behar is a woman who spent last year become “enlightened”. This year she is a woman who wants to ban her books.
The comedian and co-host of “The View” announced on Friday “Joy’s Banned Book Club,” a new weekly segment of the daytime talk show.
“Book bans have become almost daily fare,” she said. “In the last school year alone, there were more than 2,500 books banned in more than 5,000 schools, including some of the greatest books ever written, such as ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, ‘Of Mice and Men’ and ‘The Catcher in the Rye.’ Even children’s books are under fire. So with that in mind, we’re introducing a new segment to the show this week.
“Joy’s Banned Book Club” kicks off with the award-winning children’s book “And Tango Makes Three” by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, with illustrations by Henry Cole.
The critically acclaimed 2005 book is inspired by the true story of two Penguins at the New York Zoo which formed a bond during the mating season and raised a chick together. Both adult penguins were males.
“This isn’t kinky ‘(50) Shades of Gray’ for penguins,” Behar joked. “It’s a sweet, graceful way to introduce kids to the concept of acceptance of same-sex relationships and non-traditional families.”
The book was removed from school libraries in Escambia County, Fla., last week for being “unsuitable and inappropriate” for elementary school students, she said.
Behar then nodded to the ACLU and said, “Someone can decide they don’t want to read a book. Someone can decide that they don’t want their child to read a book, but someone can’t decide that an entire school or city can’t read a book.”
She added, “As far as ‘And Tango Makes Three’ goes, our studio audience can decide for themselves because you all get a copy.”
“And Tango Makes Three” has been a point of contention since its release in 2005, only appearing on the American Library Assn’s Top 10 Most Challenged Books list in 2019.
Conservative legislators and parent groups, such as Moms for Liberty and Mama Bears Rising, have been actively working to remove books like “And Tango Makes Three” from shelves — claiming that progressive ideas confuse their children about race, sexuality, and gender.
Watch Behar’s “Joy’s Banned Book Club” announcement below: