Conservatives are in an uproar for the millionth time this year, and this time it's about furries. Sigh.
Do you remember when Republicans were claiming schools had litter boxes in classrooms for kids who identified as cats, but then it turned out that it was just a school that had a bucket of litter in case kids had to be locked in a classroom without a bathroom because of an active shooter?
Well, their new claim is just as dumb and malicious.
On Wednesday, conservative radio host Adam Bartholomew took to X to share a video of middle schoolers staging a walkout at a Nebo School District school in Utah, writing that “furries” were “biting” and spraying “human repellent” at other students,” The Salt Lake City Tribune reports.
Later that day, Libs of TikTok — a far-right anti-LGBTQ+ social media account run by Chaya Raichik — shared a clip from the video with the caption, “Students walked out of Nebo School District in Utah to protest the school for allowing ‘furries’ to t*rrorize other students.”
She continued, “Students claim that the furries bite them, bark at them, and pounce on them without repercussion. However, if they defend themselves in any way, they get in trouble.”
The student protest, where kids were chanting “We the people, not the animals,” came in response to a misinterpretation of a message sent out by the school district after a bullying incident where one group of middle schoolers said things “that were overheard by others that the administration felt were inappropriate and shouldn’t be said,” school district spokesperson Seth Sorenson told The Tribune.
The rumors about furries in the school stem from one of the groups of kids wearing headbands “that may have ears on them,” but Sorenson denied the claim that any of them identify as furries.
“These are pretty young kids,” he said. “You’ll have students that show up with headbands and giant bows; you’ll have students that show up dressed as their favorite basketball player, or baseball player. That’s just what kids this age do.”
Did no one else go to school with a kid who wore cat ears or a Batman utility belt every day for a year? Just let kids be kids!
And they say gay people are the ones sexualizing kids. Who sees a kid wearing animal ears at school and automatically thinks furry?
Basically, a group of middle schoolers was bullying another group for dressing differently. However, when the school district sent parents a message about the dress code and their bullying policies, upset parents jumped on social media to complain about it. One parent even started a change.org petition titled, “Students for Humans at School, not animals aka furries,” demanding the school enforce the dress code, LGBTQ+ Nation reports.
This feels like a real “won’t somebody please think of the children” kind of moment, but somehow even more disingenuous.
Of course, other right-wing, conspiracy-theory-peddling pundits also had to chime in, like Megyn Kelly, who reposted the video on X, writing, “Another thing we were told is not happening.”
Republican Senator Mike Lee also shared the video alongside the caption, “Why is this even a close call? Students who behave like animals and bite classmates should be expelled. Administrators who defend such behavior should be fired.”
Raichik also continued to post updates on her Libs of TikTok account, including photos of supposed students wearing animal masks and a video of a girl walking on all fours, claiming that this was proof that the “media and a spokesperson for the school” are wrong about there not being furries in the school.
Sometimes, we just have to laugh at the ridiculous lengths conservatives will go to rile up their base — it’s pathetic.
