As Trump bleeds from public television, Bob Ross paintings are being auctioned off to support local stations

Earlier this year, under a Trump administration proposal, Congress cut funding for US public broadcasting networks by up to $1.1 billion. Trump and his cronies insisted that the stations were “woke” garbage that needed to be removed. In particular, MAGA has cast its malevolent eye on NPR, where Trump aides like Marjorie Taylor Greene stupidly accused the program of being disingenuous. “Communist.”

And thanks to donor networks, outlets like NPR and PBS are still pulling ahead. But many of the hundreds of other public stations have long relied on public funding They are in crisisAs they search for new sources of income and financing.

Now, a good person is stepping in to try to fill the funding gap. The organization behind famous painter Bob Ross has announced a series of auctions of his works, with the proceeds to be distributed to public television channels. Joan Kowalski, President, Bob Ross, Inc. Description of the painter As a man he “devoted his life to making art accessible to everyone.” “This auction ensures that his legacy continues to support the same medium that has brought his joy and creativity to American homes for decades,” she added.

The first auction, which will be held in Los Angeles next month, will include three of Ross’s paintings, while additional auctions will follow in other cities around the world. The Associated Press reports. The outlet notes that all auction profits will then be distributed to public stations to help them pay licensing fees.

Ross has been a fixture on public television for a long time. his program, The joy of drawingwas produced and broadcast on public stations between 1983 and 1994. The show featured Ross teaching viewers how to draw in a glamorous, low-resolution environment.

It’s unclear how far some of Bob Ross’s paintings will go toward filling the massive financial gap left by the federal defunding effort, but I guess it’s better than nothing.

Public programming has long provided an important service to Americans (before it was privatized and moved to HBO), Sesame Street Four decades at PBS), and the right-wing attack on them is just another example of conservatism that has fundamentally gone off the rails. Naturally, Trump and his friends have an alternative vision for the future of American media. Yes, MAGA favors the future that our nation’s children have They are taught by PragerUA private media institution Funded by billionairesFounded by Dennis Prager, He complained once That “it’s stupid that you can’t say the N-word.”