Social media users have shared posts online claiming that Dr. Rachel Levine, former Secretary of Health for the State of Pennsylvania, and now President Joe Biden’s new Assistant Secretary of Health, said Dr. Seuss’ books and Potato Head are bad for children. This statement is false.
Examples can be seen here, here and here.
Levine, a professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at Penn State College of Medicine (here), who led Pennsylvania’s response to the new coronavirus outbreak as the Commonwealth’s best health officer, was named assistant health secretary to President Biden. the new government, and becomes the first publicly transgender official confirmed by the Senate (here).
Reuters did not find that Levine said that Dr. Seuss books or the Mr. Potato Head toys are not bad for children. There is no such statement on Levine’s Twitter page twitter.com/SecretaryLevine or on Twitter bit.ly/38E68rZ. Nothing similar was said or attributed to her through news outlets during her confirmation hearing here.
Six children’s books published decades ago by dr. Seuss was written, was published on March 2, 2021 by dr. Seuss Enterprises, the company founded to preserve the legacy of the deceased. The books, originally published between 1937 and 1976, contain numerous caricatures of Asian and Black people containing stereotypes that have been criticized as racist (here).
On February 25, 2021, the toy company Hasbro Inc announced that they were launching the popular brand Mr. Potato Head is going to be renamed the “Mr.” to remove. Hasbro will launch a “Create Your Potato Head Family” package this fall, which he calls a “celebration of the faces of families.” Mr. Potato Head and Mrs. Potato head will still be sold here.
VERDICT
Untrue. There is no evidence that Dr. Rachel Levine said that Dr. Seuss books and Mr. Potato Head is not bad for children.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.