A copy of the book "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street," by Dr. Seuss, is one of the banned books. (AP/Steven Senne)
“We’re currently sweeping our marketplace to remove these items,” eBay said.
By Josh Plank, World Israel News
Online marketplace eBay barred the sale of certain Dr. Seuss books last week after Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced that it would no longer be publishing the children’s classics due to “hurtful and wrong” content.
Even while eBay was removing books like Dr. Seuss’ 1937 And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, anti-Semitic children’s books like Nazi propagandist Ernst Hiemer’s 1938 The Poisonous Mushroom (Der Giftpilz) was still available for sale.
According to users’ screenshots, eBay sent a notification to sellers of Seuss’ books saying, “We had to remove your listing because it didn’t follow our Offensive Material Policy. Listings that promote or glorify hatred, violence, or discrimination aren’t allowed.”
“Dr. Seuss Enterprises has stopped publication of this book due to its negative portrayal of some ethnicities. As a courtesy, we have ended your item and refunded your selling fees, and as long as you do not relist the item, there will be no negative impact to your account,” eBay said.
A search of eBay on Sunday revealed that several of the discontinued Seuss titles were still available. The company apparently experienced difficulty removing all of the listings for the books, the demand for which has skyrocketed since the public learned of their discontinuation.
“We’re currently sweeping our marketplace to remove these items. It can take some time to review all existing listings and provide education to impacted users. We’re also monitoring the newly published list to be reviewed,” an eBay spokesperson told the Washington Examiner on Thursday.
Some users complained that Seuss’ books were being removed while books like The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Hitler’s Mein Kampf remained available.
“You can’t make this stuff up. @eBay is blocking my listing of @DrSeuss’s ‘The Cat’s Quizzer’ & citing it as offensive material. Yet anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan’s books are okay?” tweeted seller Clare Ath.
Dr. Seuss Enterprises released a statement last week saying that the company, working with a panel of experts, had decided to cease publication and licensing of the following titles: 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.
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