Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanut's son, Craig Schulz, has some memories of racist rants his father would receive when he introduced Franklin into the comic strip.

He discussed it in light of the new Peantus Apple TV+ series Welcome Home, Franklin. Franklin was introduced as the first Black character in the late 1960s, The Daily Beast Obsessed reports.

The Franklin controversy

Twenty years after the debut of Franklin, Charles showed his son some of the backlash and controversy a new character had caused. Craig said, “This letter that's two pages long of this rant of somebody who just blasted him for putting a Black character in the comic strip.”

Schulz added, “Newspapers refused to run those comics with Franklin in them in those days. And my dad said, ‘If you're not going to run it, that's fine with me. I'm just not going to write it.'”

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As for the famous cartoonist's reaction to the backlash, Craig added, “I think the whole thing really enlightened him on the anger that was in the world.”

Now, Franklin is getting his due with his own special on Apple TV+. Raymond S. Persi, who directed the new animated special, said, “Franklin is a confident kid, but he's never had the chance to show anyone who he really is. He meets Charlie Brown, and he finally feels comfortable enough to be his true self, warts and all, and their bond is stronger for it.”

The director added, “A special like this serves the same purpose as that first introduction of Franklin. It's hopefully a reminder to people that we have a lot more in common than what we have different, and if we see each other on a personal level, we're going to connect, and we're going to be friends.”

Watch Welcome Back, Franklin, now streaming on Apple TV+.