A new “Captain Underpants” title, “The Adventures of Ook and Gluk”, has been aggressively pulled from shelves by its publisher, Scholastic, amid allegations of what is being called “passive racism”.
A new "Captain Underpants" title, "The Adventures of Ook and Gluk: Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future", has been aggressively pulled from shelves by its publisher, Scholastic, amid allegations of what is being called "passive racism".
Loading this lets X set cookies and collect data.
View on X"Together, we recognize that this book perpetuates passive racism. We are deeply sorry for this serious mistake."
"Scholastic has removed the book from our websites, stopped fulfillment of any orders (domestically or abroad), contacted our retail partners to explain why this book is no longer available, and sought a return of all inventory."
The author, Dav Pilkey, personally apologized publicly, saying that he now realizes that the book is "wrong and harmful to my Asian readers."
Pilkey went on in a video he posted on YouTube, saying that he plans to donate his advance and all royalties from the sale of the title to "promoting diversity in children’s books and publishing."
In the Book, the two protagonists, Ook and Gluk, travel forward in time from prehistoric days to the year 2222, where they meet "Master Wong", who is a martial arts instructor. Master Wong trains the pair so that they can go back in time and "save the day."
The book was originally published in the year 2010, but just on Thursday, a petition was put up on change.org to cancel it.
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