P!nk Brings Banned Books to Florida Along with Music

Pop star P!nk is bringing more than music to a set of Florida concert dates; she's also bringing the light of literacy and free expression to a state plagued by right-wing book bans in schools.

The "So What" singer "has teamed up with non-profit PEN America to fight censorship" in the state, the governor of which is Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis, Billboard reported.

ABC News relayed that the singer "plans to give away 1,000 banned books at each of her shows in the state on Nov. 14 and 15."

The news outlet noted that the books the singer plans to give away include four "titles that have appeared on the nonprofit's Index of Banned Books: 'The Family Book' by Todd Parr, 'The Hill We Climb' by Amanda Gorman, 'Beloved' by Toni Morrison and a book from the series 'Girls Who Code,' founded by Reshma Saujani."

Billboard noted that PEN claimed Florida "has overtaken Texas over the past school year as the leader in banning books in public schools and libraries. The organization said that in the midst of a 33% rise in book bans nationally, Florida ranks first, accounting for more than 40% of all documented bans, predominantly affecting books by Black and LGBTQ+ authors."

"Legislation passed in Florida earlier this year, including the Parental Rights in Education Bill and Stop WOKE Act, has led to the removal of books in the state's classrooms that discuss hot-button topics such as sexual orientation, gender identity, race and diversity," ABC News recounted.

In a post announcing the giveaway, P!nk declared, "The following are some titles of books that have been banned from schools in Florida.... Lmk which book is pornography.... To Kill A Mockingbird, The Hate You Give, Forrest Gump, A Catcher In The Rye, The Hill We Climb, Girls Who Code, Atlas Shrugged, 1984, The Kite Runner, The Bluest Eye, A Wrinkle In Time, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Fault In Our Stars, etc etc."

Some at X (formerly Twitter) pushed back on P!nk's post about the book giveaway. A number of rebuttals said that several of the titles the singer mentioned in a post announcing the giveaway are not banned in Florida.

P!nk pushed back in turn.

The singer also noted that the right-wing practice of banning books that deal with issues of sexuality and race extends well beyond Florida.

Others accused the singer of promoting pornography.

One individual posted images with blurred-out explicit details that supposedly came from the books "GenderQueer," "This Book is Gay," "Flamer," and "Let's Talk About It."

"Let's see the inside of the books you are going to send to children, shall we?" the post was captioned.

None of those four titles are among the four books P!nk is reportedly giving away.

"Porn isn't my thing," the singer declared in one of a number of followup posts. "Supporting freedom of speech is. Allowing hateful, narrow minded bigots to decide what all children can read is not my thing either. FREEDOM! MERICA!"

"I wish I could continue cause y'all, I'm just getting started, but I gotta read my kids a bedtime story about how it's OKAY THAT SOME FAMILIES HAVE TWO DADS," the singer quipped in one post.

Despite the flurry of hate that P!nk's posts drew to her X feed, the singer showed she knows how to keep a sense of fun along with her sense of purpose.

"Hey there! Sorry I was performing to a sold out room of happy fun people, Did I miss anything positive? 😂" P!nk posted at one point.

"just kidding, gotta run! LOVE YOU MIAMI!!!! Enjoy your books!"

To another who issued a "dare" to P!nk to "to read them aloud at her concerts," the singer replied, "Only if it's a double dog dare!!!"

At least one comment at X suggested that P!nk might be violating state law with the giveaway. "Let @P!nk fat @$$ be hauled off to jail," the poster declared. "That would be epic!"

"Let's look into it!" an unfazed P!nk shot back. "Let me know! You know where I'll be!"