In case you missed it, popular children’s cartoon series Arthur‘s latest season kicked off this week with an unexpected but not unwanted twist: Mr. Ratburn, a third-grade teacher and rat, marries a man — er, a male aardvark, that is. Arthur and his classmates celebrate as the rat and his betrothed, the aforementioned aardvark named Patrick, walk down the aisle hand-in-hand. Since the news has left audiences reeling — mostly because they are surprised the show is still running — we’ve compiled some of the best Twitter reactions to Mr. Ratburn’s coming out party.
1. Mr. Ratburn is #CoupleGoals because he doesn’t spam your feed
mr. ratburn got married with no engagement announcement on facebook and no “100 days until we say i do” post on instagram. he just did the damn thing with the man he loves without anyone knowing but close friends and family. excuse me while i stan
— James (@CaucasianJames) May 14, 2019
2. A hypothesis for writers and beta readers to explore in coming episodes:
https://twitter.com/jaboukie/status/1128155308856041472
3. What we’ve all been thinking:
I think the biggest surprise about Mr. Ratburn from Arthur being gay is that I'm just now finding out that Arthur is still coming out with new episodes.
— Erica Mendez (@tsunderica) May 14, 2019
4. The Onion uncovers a plot twist to blow your mind
PBS Defends ‘Arthur’ Episode Where Mr. Ratburn Reveals He’s The Ultimate Twink Power Bottom https://t.co/QKEIMEYVbZ pic.twitter.com/eYzu9RCYK3
— The Onion (@TheOnion) May 14, 2019
5. Quick throwback to the classic theme.
I found out that Mr. Ratburn's getting married to a bloke on Arthur and I say hey (hey) what a wonderful kind of gay.
— Gavin Herman (@MrHissara) May 13, 2019
6. This linguistic hack:
*saying gay rights with a genteel southern accent* gay rats https://t.co/3qCRYKmys8
— 𝚑𝚒𝚜𝚙𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚌 𝚙𝚒𝚡𝚒𝚎 𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖 𝚐𝚒𝚛𝚕 (@mathewrodriguez) May 13, 2019
7. Interspecies couples deserve fan art too.
https://twitter.com/hkasof/status/1128386314817007617