Pizza Hut is promoting a book titled Big Wig about a boy who dresses in “drag” clothing and wears a wig with supernatural powers through its children’s reading incentive program BOOK IT!
BOOK IT! is a reading program, sponsored by the pizza chain, directed towards children from pre-school to sixth grade, or ages four to twelve. It awards a free one-topping pizza if they are able to meet a monthly reading goal. Big Wig was promoted in the summer reading program Camp BOOK IT!
The book Big Wig is a “wonderful read-aloud [that] celebrates the universal childhood experience of dressing up and the confidence that comes with putting on a costume,” the reading program states on its website.
.@pizzahut sponsors a program which incentivizes kids in PreK-6th grade to read books. This week, one of their suggested books is “Big Wig.” A book about a child who becomes a drag performer. pic.twitter.com/5FTQC5ubCo
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 3, 2022
Here are some images from the pride books that @bookitprogram sponsored by @pizzahut is recommending. https://t.co/5Ce5ctxUNy
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 3, 2022
Simon & Schuster, which published the drag-themed book, wrote on its website that “[i]n the spirit of Julián Is a Mermaid, this irrepressible picture book celebrates drag kids, individuality, and self-confidence from the perspective of a fabulous wig!” Julián Is a Mermaid is another children’s book, written in 2018, that contains transgender undertones.
Promoted alongside Big Wig in the summer reading program were two other books with LGBT undertones to coincide with Pride Month, which is celebrated by the left in June. Be Amazing, written by Desmond Napoles, is about “the history of the LGBTQ community,” the website of Macmillan, who published the book, writes. As Breitbart News’s John Nolte wrote in 2018, Napoles, aged 11 at the time, was filmed at a New York gay bar dressed in drag while dancing in front of adults.
The other book promoted for pride month is Perfectly Pegasus, also published by Simon & Shuster.
On BOOK IT!’s website, Big Wig and Perfectly Pegasus are specifically directed towards children in pre-K to third grade, while Be Amazing is directed towards children in pre-K to first grade.
Jonathan Hillman, who proudly promotes the book he authored on his Twitter handle, celebrated the book being chosen for the Pizza Hut reading program, claiming he “grew up doing Book It!”
Hooray! Thank you @pizzahut for featuring BIG WIG (and for the MANY pizzas over the years 🍕). I grew up doing Book It!, so this is really special. And thank you @mychal3ts for sharing! 🌈 #Pride @LeviHastingsArt @SimonKIDS https://t.co/BgLBnwdqSQ
— Jonathan Hillman, BIG WIG author ✨ (@jhillmanbooks) June 3, 2022
However, Hillman has received backlash from Conservatives who point out the book has perverted sexually suggestive undertones by virtue of it being a story about a boy who dresses in drag.
Over the past few years #pizzahut has had to close hundreds of restaurants. Maybe they should spend more time perfecting their pizza instead of grooming preschoolers to be drag queens? @mschlapp @JackPosobiec @kylenabecker
— toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) June 3, 2022
Why is your Book It! program promoting grooming young children into becoming drag queens? https://t.co/q0hIu0Sbdd
— Mark Dice (@MarkDice) June 3, 2022
Pizza Hut joins a growing list of large corporations that are promoting LGBT themes among children, including the Walt Disney Company, which has received fierce backlash from Americans over its direction in promoting suggestive LGBT themes to children.
You can follow Ethan Letkeman on Twitter at@EthanLetkeman.
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