Texas senator Ted Cruz has been mocked for claiming students study “queer pet literature” in an interview bashing US President Joe Biden’s student debt relief plans.
The Republican told a co-host on his podcast Verdict with Ted Cruz this week that workers without student loans were getting “screwed” by Democrats and those who study “queer pet literature” are among whom he believes will benefit from up to $20,000 in student debt relief.
He claimed the plans support “the guy that studied queer pet literature and has $100,000 in debt because oddly enough... Other than getting a job at Disney there’s not a lot of job market for queer pet literature”.
While it was unclear why Mr Cruz appaeared to reference his previous criticism of Disney for supporting LGBT+ rights, many social media users widely mocked his “queer pet literature” comments for being outlandish and factually inaccurate.
“So apparently Ted Cruz says Queer Pet Literature is a thing in college,” said one person in a tweet. “Lol, sign me the f*** up! Do queer pets actually write?! I wanna read that s***!”
Another user who said “I did college all wrong” quipped: “So now Ted Cruz says there’s Queer Pet Literature as a course in college! God dammit why wasn’t this or Lesbian Dance Theory an option when I was in college?”.
“Working people also have to pay off Cruz‘s Senate salary,” argued another twitter user. “By the weight of accomplishments, working people are better off with Queer Pet Literature students.”
Mr Cruz, who said coffee baristas were being “screwed” by Mr Biden and students of “queer pet literature”, claimed as recently as last month that baristas were “slackers” who would unfairly benefit from student debt relief.
“There is a real risk that if you are that slacker barista who wasted seven years in college studying completely useless things, now has loans and can’t get a job,” he said on his podcast last month. “Joe Biden just gave you 20 grand”.
Mr Cruz said in the latest episode however that “the Democrats crap in the coffee cup of baristas, that is America First”. He also suggested that not “all” baristas are slackers, in comparison to so called “queer pet literature” students.
It was not the first time the Republican had referenced queer animals either. He alleged earlier this year that Disney characters such as Micky and Pluto would be “going at it” in “every episode” after the company came out in support of LGBT+ Floridians who were targeted by a law restricting classroom
“To reference another podcast, Mickey and Pluto going at it, other than getting a job at Disney there’s not a lot of job market for queer pet literature,” he said in the recent episode.
Under Mr Biden’s plans to relieve student debt, borrowers who earn less than $125,000 per year and who received Pell Grants will be entitled to $20,000 of debt to be cancelled. Borrowers who did not receive a Pell Grant can have up to $10,000 of their loans forgiven.
