eBay is removing listings for the Dr. Seuss books that the author's estate pulled due to their racist imagery
- eBay told The Wall Street Journal that it was scrubbing its site of six Dr. Seuss books the author's estate pulled this week.
- The books contained racist imagery, but the decision to pull them has sparked a right-wing backlash.
Online auction site eBay told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that it was "sweeping [its] marketplace" to prevent the resale of Dr. Seuss books that the author's estate announced it would no longer publish or licence due to racist depictions of non-white characters.
The books in question are "The Cat's Quizzer," "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street," "If I Ran the Zoo," "McElligot's Pool,"Scrambled Eggs Super!," and "On Beyond Zebra!".
The estate of the late cartoonist pulled the six volumes from licensing and publishing deals on Tuesday. Random House Children's Books will continue to publish his more well-known classics like "The Cat in the Hat" and "Green Eggs and Ham."
On Tuesday, Dr. Seuss Enterprises, which manages the catalog of Theodor Seuss Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss, told Insider's Rachel E. Greenspan in a statement that '"Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises's catalog represents and supports all communities and families."
Dr. Seuss Enterprises' announcement of the decision spurred right-wing backlash decrying "cancel culture." As Insider reported, after Glenn Beck, Donald Trump Jr., and Ted Cruz publicly denounced the decision, sales of the books went up. Forbes reported that second-hand copies of the books shot up in price, and several of Dr. Seuss' other books climbed the bestseller charts on Amazon.
A spokesperson for eBay did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.