Developers Offer To Buy Dr. Seuss Mural Decried As Racist

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWJ/AP) - A real estate developer and his partner have offered to buy a mural featuring a Chinese character from a Dr. Seuss book after it was deemed offensive.

The mural inside the Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum in Massachusetts features illustrations from the author's first children's book, "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street," written in 1937.

The museum, which is located in the author's hometown of Springfield, said Thursday the mural will be replaced after three children's authors said it contained a "jarring racial stereotype."

The Republican reports that Chinese-American developer Andy Yee and businessman Peter Picknelly announced Saturday they're willing to buy the mural if it's removed. Picknelly called the criticism "political correctness gone insane."

Democratic Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno says he wants the mural to remain in the museum.

Theodor Seuss Geisel, who wrote under the pen name Dr. Suess, is estimated to have sold about 500 million copies of his work worldwide.

Countless children learned to read with the help of Dr. Suess books -- with favorite rhyming stories from "Cat In The Hat" to "Oh, The Places You Will Go."

• • Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
  • Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!
  • The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.

(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)