Pizza Hut’s LGBT-themed book promotion sparks Twitter debate on ‘going woke’, boycott calls
India Today
It didn’t take long for the online debate over Pizza Hut’s promotion of a book about “drag kids” during Pride Month to devolve into a Republican versus Democrat narrative.
In honour of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride month, celebrated each year in June, fast-food giant Pizza Hut featured a book about a drag performer in its kids literacy program in the US. However, the inclusion hasn’t gone down well with a certain segment of social media, who panned the brand for “going woke” and even threatened to boycott it.
The controversy erupted after Pizza Hut promoted a book called ‘Big Wig’ in its Book It! reading incentive program, aimed at children aged four to 12. Big Wig is about a child who dresses in drag to compete in a costume contest.
Drag is a gender-bending art form in which a person puts on highly stylized clothing and exaggerated make-up to present themselves as a member of the opposite sex.
It is commonly associated with gay men who dress up flamboyantly in women’s clothes and adopt female personas, and are known as drag queens. They are not to be confused with transgenders or transvestites.
Big Wig, a picture book which attempts to educate children in a fun way about drag performers, was therefore part of Pizza Hut’s Pride Month themed reading recommendations. But it raised the hackles of conservatives on social media platforms, and soon climbed to the top of trending topics on Twitter. From there, it didn’t take long for the debate to devolve into a Republican vs Democrat narrative.
“Pizza Hut has gone full woke, now we must make them full broke,” said Brigitte Gabriel, founder of anti-Muslim advocacy group Act for America.
