“Ahoy, shiver me timbers”, the seas are getting rough for poor old Popeye the Sailor.
Dating back nearly 100 years, Popeye has been the loveable, one-eyed sailor that’s instantly recognisable for his huge forearms, anchor tattoos, and trusty pipe. Popeye gets his superhuman strength from guzzling down a can of spinach. What’s not to like.
But “Blow me down”, the rough and tough sailor is about to become very woke and gender-fluid. Going forward, Gender Ideology and Critical Race Theory will be now written into the Popeye story, so as to make Popeye “less heterosexual”.
Popeye was created in 1928, by Elzie Crisler Segar. But the syndicated comic strip is now in the hands of woke cartoonist Randal K Milholland who is intent on transforming Popeye into a gender-fluid icon.
“I want to bring in more characters who aren’t heterosexual. I don’t live in that purely straight white world, and I don’t think a lot of other people do either,” says Milholland.
Pushing back on gender norms, Milholland said the main character, Popeye, “should not be thought of only as a male”.
“If you go by today’s definition, Popeye was gender fluid,” the cartoonist said.
The official Popeye Twitter account recently announced a pride month shirt that presents Popeye standing in front of a ‘rainbow’ anchor. Much like Disney, it’s very likely Popeye will go woke, then broke.
Read more here.
*This post was written by Family First staff writers.