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Alabama Secretary of State: "Homosexual Activities" Killed TV

"[Americans are] too interested in the wife swap TV shows and the shows that are not morally uplifting. That’s the problem."

Today in "pop culture commentary nobody asked for," a certain Alabama Republican has bemoaned the moral integrity of television in America.

As Alabama.com reports, John Merrill, the state's Secretary of State and current candidate for the U.S. Senate, claimed at a recent campaign stop in Fort Payne that Americans are too distracted by "homosexual activities" and "wife swap shows" on TV.

JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill (L) speaks during a press conference in Montgomery, Alabma, on December 12, 2017, following the special election of the for US snator from Alabama.Alabama law says an automatic recount is triggered only when the vote margin is within half a percent. With 99 percent of all precincts reporting, Jones's margin of victory was three times that: 1.5 percent. Merrill told CNN that it would be "highly unlikely" at this point that a recount would change the result of the election. / AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

Merrill (L) at a press conference in 2017.

He confirmed the remarks to Alabama.com, adding that "the foundational principles [with] which we have grown up as a nation are no more."

"There’s no more TV shows like Gunsmoke or Bonanza or The Virginian or I Love Lucy or Andy Griffith," he claimed, citing a litany of shows that premiered during the '50s, '60s, and '70s, when racial segregation and blatant discrimination were commonplace (and in some cases prior to 1964, totally legal).

Instead, Merrill believes the American public today is "too interested in homosexual activities. They’re too interested in the wife swap TV shows and the shows that are not morally uplifting. That’s the problem."

Notably, Merrill declined to provide examples of "homosexual activities" on the small screen.

We're not entirely sure why LGBTQ representation or reality TV is a "problem," but sure, go off, Jill. As HRC so astutely alluded to on Twitter, perhaps Merrill should divert some of the mental energy he's expending by complaining about TV shows on improving his anti-LGBTQ track record as a politician in the Deep South.

He's currently one of four Alabama GOP leaders vying for the party nomination in a U.S. Senate race.

Oh, and for the record, the Television Academy begs to differ. Just yesterday, a number of queer-inclusive series—including hits like RuPaul's Drag Race, RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, Pose, Schitt's Creek, Queer Eye, and Orange Is the New Black, among others—were nominated for the 2019 Emmy Awards.

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