Never underestimate the power of social media.
Three years after its cancellation, The Magic School Bus reboot is trending again, but not for good reasons. Social media users on Twitter are taking the animated reboot to task for its designs of staple characters, most notably the Black characters, Tim and Keisha.
idk how to explain it but the new ms frizzle is homophobic pic.twitter.com/MLCBdzFCzk
— elise morgan (@crocfanpage) March 19, 2021
yall talking about ms. frizzle in the magic school bus reboot but look at how they did keisha and tim pic.twitter.com/k9V5v9yTaZ
— koko after dark (@8wariorlittle) March 20, 2021
Social media users noted how Tim and Keisha’s skin were significantly lightened in the reboot compared to the original, where they were depicted as dark-skinned. In addition to this, their hair texture was altered in the reboot.
Here are some of the responses on social media below.
While everybody’s talking about the new Ms. Frizzle design, can we talk about what they did to Tim and Keisha? pic.twitter.com/S8oNj4xOwb
— Beth (@why_beth_why) March 20, 2021
Another day, another Netflix show keeping the brown paper bag test alive.
WHO MADE KEISHA AND TIM LIGHT SKIN? https://t.co/vNWPag3rLB
— LOCAL BLACK GIRL FOR HIRE (@IamNiaRae) March 20, 2021
The reboot, which had two seasons from 2017-2018, starred Kate McKinnon as Miss Fiona Felicity Frizzle and Lily Tomlin as Professor Valerie Felicity Frizzle, Ph. D.
