Matt Gaetz claims US fought wars to make sure American children didn’t have British accents

Florida Republican was responding to report that kids watched so much Peppa Pig that it affected their pronunciation and vocabulary

Republican Rep Matt Gaetz of Florida was mocked after he claimed that the US fought wars to make sure that American kids didn’t end up with British accents.

Wall Street Journal tech reporter Meghan Brobowsky tweeted that American kids watched so much of the UK children’s tv show Peppa Pig “during the pandemic that they developed British accents and started regularly using British words like ‘holiday’ instead of ‘vacation,’ confusing their parents”.

“We fought wars so this wouldn’t happen,” Mr Gaetz tweeted in response.

While the comment was apparently made in jest, many social media users responded with scorn.

“So kids wouldn’t learn British pronunciations? I’m pretty sure the Revolutionary War was about something slightly more than that,” Twitter user Peter Cassizzi responded, referring to the eight-year conflict between 1775 and 1783 that established the independence of the 13 American colonies.

“No. My dad served in the Pacific Theater so we wouldn’t be overrun by fascists, not so we wouldn’t speak with a British accent. Wars are nothing to joke about, sir,” Louisa Morgan added.

“We fought wars over English accents? I’ll never forget the battle war over the ‘Queue vs. Line’ controversy that turned into a world war when the ‘color vs colour’ atrocities were exposed,” one account holder joked.

“This is why my toddler is only allowed to watch the Fast & Furious series. It’s the only way to guarantee any undue influence from foreign entities,” another added.

The US and the UK also fought against each other alongside their allies in the War of 1812, which lasted for about two years and eight months until 1815.

“For Pete’s sake Matt, kids were talking in British accents after watching Peppa Pig long before this. Might I suggest somebody teach you how to Google,” Laura Di Bella responded.

Other social media users came to the defence of Peppa Pig, a kid’s show that the BBC reported was being shown in 180 countries in 2010. It originally started in 2004 and seven seasons have been produced. The show follows the pig, her family and other animal friends and neighbours.

“Peppa Pig is one of the best shows on the Telly. Quite. Rather. Pip pip cheerio,” one user wrote.

“Wait until Matt finds out that the founding fathers had foreign accents,” another added.

It’s not known what accents the founding fathers’ spoke with. Dialect coach Catherine Charlton told Vanity Fair in 2008 that we “don’t know exactly” what they sounded like.

The website for George Washington’s home Mount Vernon in Virginia states that the first president’s accent may have been “predominantly American with a detectable English influence”.