Ariana Grande among celebrities denounces “chilling” book bans in an open letter
Ariana Grande, Mark Ruffalo and director Guillermo del Toro are among a list of nearly 175 actors, comedians, musicians, reality stars, models, authors and activists who have signed an open letter calling for the passage of book banning laws in the US denounce.
On Tuesday (September 19), public advocacy group MoveOn released the letter “Defending the Freedom of Reading,” led by PBS Reading Rainbow Hosted by LeVar Burton.
“As a former presenter of Reading RainbowI have spent over 20 years inspiring millions of people of all ages to discover their love of reading. Now I see the books we once celebrated being challenged, restricted and banned,” Burton’s note reads.
The open letter calls on “everyone to join us in opposing these book bans, to support free expression and the opening of the creative industries – regardless of personal or ideological differences – and to raise their voices at the local level to support these bans in their school districts.” to stop.” .
“This restrictive behavior not only contradicts freedom of speech and expression, but also has a chilling effect on the broader creative sector,” it continued.
“We cannot emphasize enough that these censorship efforts will not end with book bans. It is only a matter of time before regressive, oppressive ideologues shift their focus to other forms of art, expression, and entertainment to scapegoat their attacks and efforts to scapegoat marginalized communities, particularly BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people, to advance.
“We refuse to let draconian politicians take this away from us.”
Ariana Grande, Gabrielle Union and Guillermo del Toro
(Getty Images)
Natasha Lyonne, Bill Nye, Gabrielle Union, Constance Wu, John Leguizamo, Emma Roberts, Sarah Paulson, Andy Cohen, Margaret Atwood, Zooey Deschanel, Zoe Lister-Jones, Busy Philipps and Christie Brinkley are also among the high-profile names who have supported the letter , which began collecting signatures this summer.
Within the first half of the 2022-2023 school year, according to PEN AmericaThere were at least 1,4777 attempts to ban 874 individual book titles.
At least 30 percent of affected titles are books about race, racism, or characters of color, and more than a quarter of all titles include LGBT+ characters or themes.
This new wave of book bans in the US has been largely fueled by Republican lawmakers, religious groups, politically motivated school boards and right-wing activists, all under the auspices of a “parental rights” campaign.
Recent goals included a title in 1989 Arthur Book series that was the subject of a complaint in a Florida school district after a parent claimed the book was “damaging to souls.”
