(BPR) In what proves to be a sign of the times, a new Apple TV+ special will feature the first black character in the long-running cartoon strip “Peanuts.”
Franklin Armstrong made his debut after the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. when schoolteacher Harriet Glickman wrote Charles Schulz and said that introducing a black character would have a positive effect on a racially divided society.
The special is titled, “Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin.” It is the first time that Franklin has been the center of the story, with the show following the character as he moves into the neighborhood of Charlie Brown and Snoopy.
The plot line is that Franklin’s dad works for the military and that results in the family moving a lot. And while Franklin relies on advice from his grandfather, which is written down in a notebook, he has trouble fitting in with the all-white Peanuts gang — other than Snoopy.
According to the Daily Mail, the special sets out to make atonement for past sins.
“More than four decades after it first aired, Peanuts executives are making amends for an iconic scene showing segregation as a black character sat away from others from the famed comic,” the British tabloid reported. “The new show comes after the controversial 1973 Thanksgiving special that displayed a scene where Franklin sat alone, on the opposite side of the dining room table across from the other characters, including Snoopy, who are white.”
A similar dinner scene is recreated in the new special, with Franklin not only on the same side of the table but the center of attention.
“We use the comic strip as our Bible and we build upon that. This story was one that we all really wanted to tell. Everybody loves Franklin. We just felt he deserved a lot of respect,” executive producer Craig Schulz said, according to the Daily Mail.
“This is our chance to kind of rectify the whole thing,” Schulz added.
Suffice it to say, social media users who’ve had their fill of wokeness were a bit skeptical of the iconic cartoon strip being used as a platform for more moral lecturing.
Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story, as seen on X:
