Captain Underpants author Dav Pilkey pulls ‘kung fu’ children’s book over complaints of passive racism

Author Dav Pilkey, best known for his children’s book series Captain Underpants, and Scholastic publishing have pulled his 2010 graphic novel The Adventures of Ook and Gluk: Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future off the shelves over what they dubbed “passive racism.”

The book, a spin-off of the Captain Underpants series, follows two caveboys named Ook and Gluk who learn kung fu from a martial arts instructor, Master Wong.

“The Adventures of Ook and Gluk: Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future was intended to showcase diversity, equality, and nonviolent conflict resolution,” Pilkey said in a statement on YouTube.

“But this week it was brought to my attention that this book also contains harmful racial stereotypes and passively racist imagery. I wanted to take this opportunity to publicly apologise for this. It was and is wrong and harmful to my Asian readers, friends, and family, and to all Asian people.”

Pilkey said he and Scholastic are pulling all copies of the book from their website, stopping fulfillment of new orders and working with retail stores and schools to take the book off the shelves.

“Together, we recognise that this book perpetuates passive racism,” Scholastic said in a statement. “We are deeply sorry for this serious mistake.”