Arthur kicked off its 22nd season yesterday with a literal coming out party for the character, Mr. Ratburn.
In the episode “Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone”, Arthur and his classmates go to their third-grade teacher’s wedding.
His New Husband Appears to Be An Aardvark
The kids are unsure of who Ratburn is marrying until he comes down the aisle on the arm of a previously unintroduced male character named Patrick. His new husband appears to be an aardvark (like Arthur).
After the ceremony, the students react positively to Mr. Ratburn’s marriage (but not to his moves on the dancefloor).
Twitter Reacts
Twitter was quick to praise the show’s surprise announcement—at one point on Monday, “Mr. Ratburn” was trending worldwide.
“Mr. Ratburn being gay is *my* Game of Thrones finale,” commented user @salmattos. Many others proudly praised the anteater as a new gay icon.
Others were more surprised that the classic PBS show was still running: “I think the biggest surprise about Mr. Ratburn from Arthur being gay is that I’m just now finding out that Arthur is still coming out with new episodes,” said Erica Mendez (@tsunderica).
Arthur is based on the Arthur Adventure book series by Marc Brown and premiered as an animated series in 1996.
