PragerU, a right-wing media organization promoted by the Trump administration as a PBS replacement, has produced a video featuring Christopher Columbus characterizing slavery as 'no big deal' and suggesting it was better than death.
Mostly True
Donald Trump’s PBS replacement features Christopher Columbus telling kids that slavery was “no big deal.”
Potential PBS replacement network says slavery was 'no big deal' in video - TheGrio
Source: thegrio.com
At a glance
Verified August 15, 2025Key Evidence
TheGrio reports that a clip from PragerU shows Christopher Columbus telling kids slavery was 'no big deal.'.
Threads.com highlights that the video states slavery was 'better than being killed,' reflecting a dismissive attitude toward slavery's brutality.
Multiple Reddit communities and The Mirror US document public outrage over this portrayal and its implications for historical education.
The reporting
What the Evidence Shows
Multiple sources confirm that the Trump administration has sought to replace PBS with PragerU, a conservative media platform known for partisan content rather than traditional educational programming. Among PragerU's videos aimed at children is one in which a portrayal of Christopher Columbus downplays the horrors of slavery, describing it as 'no big deal' and implying that being enslaved was preferable to being killed. This characterization has sparked significant backlash online and in media commentary, with critics accusing the video of minimizing the brutal realities of slavery and attempting to rewrite history in a misleading way.
Key points include:
PragerU is not an accredited university but a media company producing ideological content.
The video in question uses a light-hearted tone to discuss slavery, which many viewers found offensive and historically inaccurate.
The Trump administration's promotion of PragerU as a PBS replacement has been controversial due to concerns about propagandistic content replacing factual public broadcasting.
While the video does present slavery in an extremely problematic manner, it is important to note that this is part of PragerU's broader ideological messaging rather than an official government educational curriculum. Nonetheless, the association with the Trump administration's media strategy lends weight to concerns about misinformation in educational content for children.
Primary trail
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