You may have noticed the right-wing seems to have an obsession with "grooming" and predatory behavior towards children, seeing it seemingly absolutely everywhere and in everything except where it actually exists.
The most common scapegoat of course is the entire LGBTQ+ community, but they've raised an uproar about the supposedly nefarious undertones all sorts of other mundane, innocuous things too.
The latest?
Teddy bears.
At least, that's what Daily Wire host Ben Shapiro is all upset about at the moment. Specifically, he's accusing Build-A-Bear Workshop, the legendary mall store where you can create your own teddy bear, of "coming after kids."
Why? Because of its new line of teddy bears inspired by RuPaul's Drag Race, despite the fact Build-A-Bear has explicitly said the line of teddy bears is for an 18+ audience.
That didn't stop Shapiro from fear-mongering about the bears on a recent episode of his show.
You can see it here:
\u201cBen 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"\u201d— Jason Campbell (@Jason Campbell) 1680710752
Shapiro told his followers:
"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"
What exactly "drag queen the kids" means is anyone's guess.
But Shapiro sure is upset about it.
He went on to say:
"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."
The bears are sold in a separate 18+ section of the Build-A-Bear website called The Bear Cave, a fact Shapiro himself acknowledged but then kept on ranting anyway.
“Build-A-Bear feels the necessity to do this. Again, this is a product design for children."
Except it's not, as Shapiro pointed out a sentence before when he said "apparently it’s for 18 plus shoppers."
Nevertheless, he persisted.
"It’s 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.”
As you might guess, many people online found Shapiro's Build-A-Bear rant absurd.
\u201cBen Shapiro once again shows the world how easily triggered he is. What else makes you cry, Ben? @benshapiro https://t.co/6Yd71tiK4A\u201d— Chris Lavoie (@Chris Lavoie) 1680722084
\u201c@JasonSCampbell drag queening as a verb is a uniquely conservative concept.\u201d— Jason Campbell (@Jason Campbell) 1680710752
\u201c@benshapiro thank you for telling us that @buildabear has Drag Queen bears online. I\u2019ll be purchasing one, or maybe two.\u201d— Laurie Strode\u2019s Revenge \u26a1\ufe0f\ud83c\udf3b\ud83e\udd84\ud83e\uddda\u200d\u2640\ufe0f (@Laurie Strode\u2019s Revenge \u26a1\ufe0f\ud83c\udf3b\ud83e\udd84\ud83e\uddda\u200d\u2640\ufe0f) 1680713866
\u201c@JasonSCampbell Why's he always so scared of drag queens? This is getting old.\u201d— Jason Campbell (@Jason Campbell) 1680710752
\u201c@JasonSCampbell Seems like an overly broad use of the phrase "coming after the kids"\n\nJust say you want kids to be as bigoted and hateful as you are, that you want your failures and disappointments and bitterness inflicted on younger generations. That at least would be honest.\u201d— Jason Campbell (@Jason Campbell) 1680710752
\u201c@JasonSCampbell They really have nothing else to talk about.\u201d— Jason Campbell (@Jason Campbell) 1680710752
\u201c@JasonSCampbell Build a bear has an after dark section on their website where you can purchase bears that have adult themes. Is he upset about the bear who has a gin t-shirt? These bears are online only.\u201d— Jason Campbell (@Jason Campbell) 1680710752
As for the Drag Race-themed bears themselves?
Most of the non-Shapiro internet is loving them.
\u201cAbsolutely screaming at this unhinged description of the RuPaul Build-A-Bear Bear\u201d— bb (@bb) 1680119006
\u201cMe planning to hand down my rupaul build a bear to my gay son in 20 years\u201d— bubble boy (@bubble boy) 1680562302
\u201cGot my RuPaul Build A Bear\ud83d\ude2d #DragRace\u201d— Andi\u2606Star (@Andi\u2606Star) 1680549132
Build-A-Bear's 18+ section also features bears themed to The Office and Star Wars.
No word on what Shapiro thinks of those, but rest assured if he can spin either into an accusation of pedophilia against liberals and LGBTQ+ people, we'll hear about it soon enough.
