During an appearance on Tuesday’s The View to promote his various projects, actor LeVar Burton he was asked by co-host Joy Behar to share his thoughts about the recent funding cuts to PBS. After a little reluctance, Burton gave a truly unhinged reaction where he suggested the funding cuts were part of sacrificing kids to the war machine. How? He never explained it.
Continuing to push the propaganda narrative that the defunding of PBS was about axing children’s programming, Behar wondered: “Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood and Reading Rainbow are just two examples of iconic PBS programming. So, what do you make of the recent cuts that the federal government wants to make on PBS?”
“Joy, do you really want to hear me say,” Burton warned her.
After some prodding from Behar and co-host Sunny Hostin, Burton relented and went on a brief rant where he suggested the funding cuts were about sending kids off to war:
Just like we have problem with the truth in this nation, we also are addicted to spending money on war, and the weapons of war. And we have sacrificed generations of our kids and their education as a result.
LaVar Burton says cutting funding to PBS is part of sacrificing our children to war:
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) April 28, 2026
JOY BEHAR: Mr. Rogers' Nationhood and Reading Rainbow are just two examples of iconic PBS programming. So, what do you make of the recent cuts that the federal government wants to make on PBS?… pic.twitter.com/MjCfuFDClI
Without out asking him to explain how he was able to make that leap, Behar and the rest of The View cast stepped in to whine about how children’s programming would be supposedly hurt:
BEHAR: But besides that it's the kind of programming you're just not going to get anywhere else.
BURTON: No, you're not. PBS is -
BEHAR: You're not going to see The Forsytes for example, or - what is it? The Count of Monte Cristo, are plying right now.
BURTON: Right.
BEHAR: You're just not going to get that.
SARA HAINES: Or Daniel Tiger or Pinkalicious or
[Crosstalk]
BEHAR: Sesame Street. The kids grew up with Sesame Street.
“The most intolerable thing about the liberal arguments on PBS was pretending that conservatives were objected to cartoons and shows about reading,” NewsBusters Executive Editor Tim Graham wrote about The View segment on X. “Wrong. We opposed funding for PBS because of horrible bias on Frontline, and PBS News Hour, and Charlie Rose/Amanpour. It was about conservatives being TRASHED and getting no rebuttal.”
As NewsBusters had previously noted, repeatedly, Sesame Street was no longer a PBS show and was available on Netflix.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
April 28, 2026
11:37:24 a.m. Eastern(…)
JOY BEHAR: Mr. Rogers' Nationhood and Reading Rainbow are just two examples of iconic PBS programming. So, what do you make of the recent cuts that the federal government wants to make on PBS?
LAVAR BURTON: Joy, do you really want to hear me say what I --
BEHAR: I do.
SUNNY HOSTIN: Yes!
BEHAR: I do.
BURTON: Just like we have problem with the truth in this nation, we also are addicted to spending money on war, and the weapons of war. And we have sacrificed generations of our kids and their education as a result.
[Applause]
BEHAR: But besides that it's the kind of programming you're just not going to get anywhere else.
BURTON: No, you're not. PBS is -
BEHAR: You're not going to see The Forsytes for example, or - what is it? The Count of Monte Cristo, are plying right now.
BURTON: Right.
BEHAR: You're just not going to get that.
SARA HAINES: Or Daniel Tiger or Pinkalicious or
[Crosstalk]
BEHAR: Sesame Street. The kids grew up with Sesame Street.
(…)
