LeVar Burton blasts PBS funding cuts, book banning

LeVar Burton used an appearance on ABC’s “The View” this week to denounce federal cuts to public broadcasting and what he called a “national problem with the truth,” weaving pointed political commentary into a wide-ranging conversation about his decades on television.

Mr. Burton, best known for his roles on “Roots,” “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and the long-running educational series “Reading Rainbow,” appeared on the daytime talk show Tuesday to promote the second season of his CW game show “Trivial Pursuit” and an upcoming memoir, “Take My Word for It,” scheduled for release Nov. 10.

The conversation turned to his 1977 miniseries “Roots,” which chronicled the life of African slave Kunta Kinte and became one of the most-watched shows in television history, and whether it might find a similar audience today.

“If it were broadcast today, I think ‘Roots’ would have a very rocky road to the airwaves,” Mr. Burton said. “There would be a lot of resistance. There are just book bans and all kinds of nonsense in the public sphere…As important as it is, why do we have such a problem with the truth?”

Co-host Whoopi Goldberg rejected this suggestion, arguing that oral tradition would carry the story regardless of political headwinds.

“Do you know why this would happen? Because remember how this started,” Ms. Goldberg said. “It started orally. And you can take down all the signs you want. You can tear down all the buses…but you can’t take away the stories we tell.”

Mr. Burton relented. “Come to think of it, you’re right,” he said. “That’s why I’m a storyteller, to preserve this part of who we are, not only for ourselves, but for subsequent generations.”

The most heated exchange came when co-host Joy Behar asked Mr. Burton about the Trump administration’s cuts to PBS funding. Congress voted last year to cancel federal appropriations for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the entity that funneled government money to PBS and NPR, effectively forcing the CPB to shut down its operations. The administration also issued an executive order directing all federal agencies to end funding for the two broadcasters — a directive that a federal judge ruled unconstitutional in March, although its practical effect remains limited given congressional action already in place.

“Joy, do you really want to hear me say that?” » Mr. Burton said before sighing and continuing. “Just as we have a problem with the truth in this nation, we are also addicted to spending money on war and weapons of war, and we have sacrificed generations of our children and their education.”

Mr. Burton’s frustration with cuts to the PBS program carries personal weight. “Reading Rainbow,” which he hosted for more than two decades beginning in 1983, aired on PBS and became a staple of elementary school classrooms across the country.

He is currently in the second season of “Trivial Pursuit” on The CW, which premiered in January. The show, renewed last May for 30 episodes, features contestants competing for a $20,000 jackpot in six quiz categories on a giant version of the classic board game.