Please, no one text Mr. Ratburn about this and ruin his honeymoon. After news broke that Arthur’s longtime teacher and his fiancé, Patrick, walked down the aisle during the show’s 22nd season premiere on PBS, Arthur fans celebrated their nuptials on social media. Unfortunately for viewers in Alabama, however, Alabama Public Television has refused to air the episode, entitled “Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone,†over the same-sex wedding, swapping it out for a rerun instead.
“Parents have trusted Alabama Public Television for more than 50 years to provide children’s programs that entertain, educate and inspire,†APT’s director of programming, Mike McKenzie, told AL.com. “More importantly — although we strongly encourage parents to watch television with their children and talk about what they have learned afterwards — parents trust that their children can watch APT without their supervision. We also know that children who are younger than the ‘target’ audience for Arthur also watch the program.†APT reportedly has no plans to air the episode at a later date, though fans can still watch it online at PBSKids.org here.