Cartoon Network PSA teaching anti-racism sparks outrage online

A Cartoon Network animated public service announcement (PSA) teaching children to "acknowledge racism” has invited an online backlash. The said PSA featured two boys of different races discussing the prospect of marrying each other when they grow up.

“You can't get married … Black people can't marry white people!” a cartoon bully says to the boys.

A character from the show ‘Steven Universe’ then appears onscreen and says, “Kids! Don’t be racist!”

It is then revealed that the scene was a filming set for an ‘actual’ PSA, and the three child actors discuss the real-life implications of racism.

Cartoon Network included a link to its ‘Be Anti-Racist’ campaign's page. It also had the alliterating slogan “Don't Deny it, Defy it”. 

This is one of the four PSAs aimed at such messaging. The remaining three PSAs will feature different ‘Steven Universe’ characters, and will be rolled out over the next couple of months.

The PSA prompted outrage online, mainly because children were used in the video.

Users said racism might be too heavy a topic for real-life children to comprehend.

A few also commented that characters explicitly talking about their sexuality and marriage looked out of place for a cartoon aimed at kids.

Some agreed with the entire idea of kids as the target audience.