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- Six Dr. Seuss books are being dropped by his estate because of their racist and offensive imagery.
- But sales of his books are now surging on Amazon, occupying nine of the 10 best-seller spots.
- Right-wing pundits and politicians have accused Dr. Seuss Enterprises of falling prey to “cancel culture.”
- Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories.
Books by Dr. Seuss occupied nine of the top 10 spots on Amazon’s best-sellers list Thursday morning, as the author became the center of the latest debate surrounding so-called “cancel culture.”
Dr. Seuss Enterprises, which oversees the author’s estate, announced Tuesday that it would stop selling six of his books because of racist and offensive imagery.
Soon after, sales of books by Seuss, real name Theodor Seuss Geisel, surged, according to sales data from Amazon. His books now dominate the e-commerce giant’s best-sellers list, which shows its most popular products based on sales.
But none of the six books being pulled made it to Amazon’s best-sellers list. As of Thursday morning, “The Cat in the Hat” topped the list, followed by “One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish” and “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!.”
Dr. Seuss Enterprises said in its statement the company decided to cease publishing and licensing deals for the six books last year. The books are published by Random House Children’s Books.
The books being taken out of print are "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street," "If I Ran the Zoo," "McElligot's Pool," "On Beyond Zebra!," "Scrambled Eggs Super!," and "The Cat's Quizzer."
"These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong," the company said.
Prices of second-hand copies of the six discontinued books quickly shot up online, Forbes reported. "And To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street" and "If I Ran the Zoo" are both sold out on Barnes & Nobles' website.
Within hours of the company's announcement, right-wing pundits and politicians criticized the decision on Fox News, accusing Dr. Seuss Enterprises of falling prey to "cancel culture," Insider's Rachel E. Greenspan reported.
Donald Trump Jr. spoke out against the decision on Fox News. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz also tweeted about the news, while right-wing commentator Glenn Beck called the move "facism."
"It is the end of freedom in America," he said.