Nickelodeon’s ratings are plummeting as the network continues to push an LGBTQ agenda on children. According to the entertainment site Pirates and Princesses, Nickelodeon has seen a major decline in viewers since it began pushing the agenda, which has become even more overt in the last few weeks.
LGBTQ Agenda
The Daily Wire reports that, in celebration of “Pride” month, Nickelodeon, owned by VIacomCBS, and its preschool-targeted network, Nick Jr., have been releasing videos that focus on LGBTQ inclusion. Such videos have included a cartoon version of drag queen Nina West signing about LGBTQIA groups on Blues Clues and You, a show geared for children ages two to five.
Nickelodeon also posted a live-action video to YouTube last week that featured West explaining the meanings behind the LGBTQ Pride flags through a song.
But Nickelodeon’s descent into “wokeness” has been going on for a while now. During last year’s “Pride” month, the network implied that SpongeBob SquarePants, arguably its most popular character, is homosexual.
“Celebrating #Pride with the LGBTQ+ community and their allies this month and every month,” the network said in a tweet featuring SpongeBob wearing a tie printed with the LGBTQ “pride” flag.
The tweet does not explicitly state the character is gay, but includes in the picture other known LGBTQ figures, noted the the New York Post, including Korra from The Legend of Korra, who is bisexual, and the transgender actor Michael D. Cohen (who plays Schwoz) from Henry Danger. Nickelodeon turned off all comments for the tweet, leaving little room for debate behind its meaning.
“Fans have known for a while Korra was gay/bisexual — as it was revealed in the show itself and actually written into the script. Again, not so much with words … but just action,” entertainment news outlet TMZ added. “As for Schwoz, the actor who plays him — Michael D. Cohen — is a transgender man in real life … something that wasn’t revealed until recently. He transitioned decades ago. Now, when it comes to the Krusty Krab fry cook … well, let’s just say folks had their suspicions for a long time now. If you know, you know … we won’t break it down for boomers.”
Never mind the fact that SpongeBob’s creator, Stephen Hillenburg, called the cartoon sponge and his best friend Patria Star “asexual” in an interview with People Magazine back in the early 2000s when viewers attempted to ascribe any type of orientation to the character.
“We never intended them to be gay,” Hillenburg said. “I consider them to be almost asexual. We’re just trying to be funny and this has got nothing to do with the show.”
Of course, that was a different time. Hillenburg passed away from ALS in 2018, and now his beloved SpongeBob is ripe for the designs of the woke culture.
The network also recently announced its reboot of the once popular Rugrats series that originally ran from the 1990s to 2004 will feature a single lesbian mother.
Black Lives Matter Support
Nickelodeon has also been an outspoken supporter for the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd. On June 1, 2020, the network tweeted it would be going off the air for eight minutes and 46 seconds — the length of time Police Officer Derek Chauvin “kneeled” on George Floyd — “in support of justice, equality, and human rights.”
For nearly nine minutes, the network showed a single message in white text against a black background: “I CAN’T BREATHE.” A disturbing audio of someone breathing could be heard in the background. The broadcast aired on all Viacom channels, which includes MTV, VHI, Comedy Central, and TV Land.
In that same tweet, the network posted its “Declaration of Kids’ Rights,” which sadly shows marked differences from its original 1990 version that included references to the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. The newer version was clearly manipulated to be less child-friendly and more SJW-approved:
You have the right to be seen, heard and respected as a citizen of the world.
You have the right to a world that is peaceful.
You have the right to be treated with equality, regardless of the color of your skin.
You have the right to be protected from harm, injustice, and hatred.
You have the right to an education that prepares you to run the world.
You have the right to your opinions and feelings, even if others don’t agree with them.
Get Woke, Go Broke
But actions have consequences, and it appears Nickelodeon will soon learn what it means to “Get Woke, Go Broke.”
According to Pirates and Princesses, Nickelodeon’s YouTube videos were “downvoted to such a degree that they’ve now hidden the ratio.” The site also notes that the network’s viewership has dropped dramatically since 2017, when it averaged 1.3 million viewers per week to a June 2021 average of 372,000.
“That is catastrophically bad for the cable channel, but with cable on the way out, maybe it’s not so bad?” Pirates and Princesses considered, adding, “The catch here is that it is, in fact, that bad and perhaps worse, simply because Nickelodeon seems to be the primary driving force behind new subscribers to Paramount+.”
ViacomCBS has been attempting to bolster support for its streaming service Paramount+ by adding hundreds of hours of Nickelodeon programming to its library. But the backlash against Nickelodeon’s agenda has proven to be catastrophic for the streaming platform. Pirates and Princesses observed,
But there are signs that Viacom has not learned any lessons and is retrofitting these old shows with the same principles that have resulted in Nickelodeon’s huge loss in ratings. Even with a show about infants, much of the headlines have been about a retconned, now-lesbian character; whatever your thoughts on that issue, it’s hard to see how a children’s show about infants is best served in advertising when the news is all about sexuality.
As noted by Pirates and Princesses, “It’s one thing to take a position on issues of sexuality, it’s another entirely to propagandize those issues for young children.”
Sadly, the network refuses to acknowledge the relationship between its suffering ratings and controversial agenda. When West posted a video of the Pride song, Nickelodeon’s official account tweeted in response, “It gets better every time we watch it.”
Perhaps the tweet should have read, “We lose money every time it’s watched.”
