Conservatives Melt Down Over New Gender-Neutral “Potato Head”

Photo via Rusty Clark/Flickr (CC BY 2.0), @LizardRumsfeld/Twitter

February 25, 2021, 1:53 pm

Brace yourself, because the news just broke that the classic children’s toy Mr. Potato Head will be dropping the “Mr.” to make it simply “Potato Head” in order to allow kids to express themselves without the limits of traditional gender norms. And yes, Republicans are absolutely losing it.

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“Culture has evolved,” said Hasbro executive Kimberly Boyd. “Kids want to be able to represent their own experiences. The way the brand currently exists—with the ‘Mr.’ and ‘Mrs.’—is limiting when it comes to both gender identity and family structure.”

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This has right-wing media analyst Mark Dice ready to leave the entire country behind.

Unfortunately for Dice, Hasbro is a multinational toy, game, and media conglomerate, so unless the new Republican nation is going to ban all Hasbro products, they can’t escape Potato Head.

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The rebranding of the well-known spud-based toy goes beyond just dropping the gendered titles. They will also no longer be sold in sets that treat the “traditional” family model, with a married man and woman and kids, as the default. That way, kids with same-sex parents, gender nonconforming parents, and in single-parent households can play without feeling like something is wrong with their own family.

Of course, they can still great traditional potato families if they want. In fact, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head are not being eliminated and will still be sold in boxes identifying them with the Mr. and Mrs. in place. The “Mr.” is only being dropped from the brand name, as was confirmed by the Hasbro Twitter account.

Hold that Tot – your main spud, MR. POTATO HEAD isn’t going anywhere! While it was announced today that the POTATO HEAD brand name & logo are dropping the ‘MR.’ I yam proud to confirm that MR. & MRS. POTATO HEAD aren’t going anywhere and will remain MR. & MRS. POTATO HEAD pic.twitter.com/6I84KrxOLQ

— Hasbro (@Hasbro) February 25, 2021

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This, however, has not stopped conservatives from freaking out about the end of family and children and the world, or what have you, and it appears that no amount of potato puns will.

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Mr. Potato Head becoming gender neutral is definitely one of those “nobody asked for this, please stop helping” things but it is funny in a depressing way to watch the transphobic crowd defend the pronouns and honorifics of a potato

— Cliff Jerrison (@pervocracy) February 25, 2021

Lauren Boebert was sent to Congress to do the heroic work of helping her constituents by *checks notes* worrying about Mr. Potato Head. https://t.co/o3MHi21Cvo

— ReallyAmerican.com (@ReallyAmerican1) February 25, 2021

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*First Published: February 25, 2021, 1:53 pm