Christian Mom Explains Why She Will No Longer Let Her Daughter Watch Ms Rachel
The dinosaurs really struck a nerve.
Of all the places where you would expect to find a controversial opinion, Ms Rachel’s YouTube page would remain at the bottom of many people’s lists — especially for parents.
During the height of the pandemic, when parents couldn’t send their kids to pre-K or school at all, Ms Rachel helped so many families educate their children through song.
Now, however, there seems to have been a small-scale boycott of her YouTube videos and TikToks, with one Christian mother explaining exactly why she chose to cut Ms Rachel from her daughter’s life.
The Christian mom isn’t letting her daughter watch Ms Rachel anymore because of dinosaurs and pronouns.
Posting to the account “@actually_ashleey,” Ashley explains how much they had originally loved Ms Rachel and watching Ms Rachel for her daughter, but changed her tune more recently.
As the mother of a 19-month-old baby, Ashley claims to pre-watch every single thing that her daughter ends up watching because she wants to curate what goes into her head.
“We have decided to not let her watch that anymore due to a couple of reasons,” she explains in the video. “I had heard on Ms Rachel the other day, I believe, it was Ms Rachel talking about how dinosaurs were created millions of years ago — that is something we disagree with.”
She goes into how she and her boyfriend don’t believe in things like “evolution,” but she had only initially removed that episode from her watch list.
The second reason was far more personal than a simple disagreement with scientific fact, and it had to do with Ms Rachel's costar, Jules.
The real problem arose when Jules revealed their pronouns on their private accounts.
When Jules came out with their pronouns, Ashley decided to pull the plug and prevent her daughter from watching the program altogether.
“I won’t let my daughter watch something, with something that we disagree with, you know?” Ashley explains. “It’s just like, you will parent your child your way…and I’m going to parent my child how I’m going to parent my child.”
She says that she doesn’t like how people, in defense of Ms Rachel and Jules, will accuse Christian moms of trying to cancel them — she claims they’re not boycotting out of hate but out of disagreement.
Another “traditional mother” posted her own take on the situation as well alongside the caption “can’t we just have a non-political kids show.”
The text in the video reads “when miss Rachel introduces they/them/their pronouns so you have to stop watching her.”
Dinosaurs are one thing, but no one seems to be able to find any videos of Ms Rachel teaching pronouns to children — because it doesn’t exist.
In fact, the only way that anyone would be able to draw a connection is by going to Jules’s personal TikTok page and seeing the various updates on their life — including a recent top surgery they went through.
Also, according to commenters, Jules has always been honest about who they are, their pronouns, and their non-binary identity, so it’s not even something new, just news to some.
The backlash got so bad that Ms Rachel had to take a break from TikTok.
“I’m taking a break from TikTok for my mental health,” Ms Rachel, whose full name is Rachel Griffin Accurso, sang in a video posted to the platform.
“Hurtful videos and comments, no matter how much attention they get, will not bring you want you want. Only love can do that,” she wrote in the caption.
Despite the backlash she and Jules received from a loud minority, thousands of people jumped to defend both of them, with comments like “WHO HURT YOU??? Hold my earrings, lemme get my keys. We ride at dawn!”
Others showed their full love and support, saying “Not a bad idea. I personally cherish what you do for little ones. Come back and see us when you feel ready,” understanding that she needed to do what was best for her.
Fortunately, it was a short break, and Ms Rachel returned on March 6 with a video saying that she was “back” and thought about “setting social media boundaries.”
She’s happy with what she does and wants to continue doing it while removing herself from the negatives.
At the end of the day, love will always conquer hate.
Isaac Serna-Diez is an Assistant Editor who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Keep up with his rants about current events on his Twitter.