Colbert to Sendak: How Can a Gay Man Write Kids’ Books?

The Colbert Report this week featured a hilarious interview by host Stephen Colbert with author Maurice Sendak, discussing among other things why Sendak, as a gay man, is allowed to write children’s books, and Colbert’s removal of the penises from Sendak’s In the Night Kitchen.

Colbert asks, “Why are you allowed to write children’s books? You’re not allowed to head Boy Scout troops,” to which Sendak replies, “I wouldn’t dream of wanting to.”

Sendak also corrects the ever tongue-in-cheek host’s assertion that “gay men can’t have children” and explains that he really doesn’t like children all that much: “I like them as few and far between as I do adults. Maybe a bit more because I really don’t like adults at all.” 

Watch the interview, in two parts, here.