‘Today’s Jenna Bush Hager Goes on Passionate Rant About Book Banning

Wednesday’s episode of Today With Jenna & Sheinelle aired a clip of the podcast segment, after which Bush Hager recalled getting backlash from parents in 2024 for letting her then-10-year-old daughter, Mila, read The Summer I Turned Pretty books, which primarily feature teen characters. (Bush Hager shares her three kids — Mila, Poppy, and Hal — with her husband, Henry Hager.)

“I’m like, ‘First of all, I’m lying next to her while she reads it. I’m her mother. If she has questions, she’s gonna come to me and ask it,'” she told Sheinelle Jones. “And also, y’all, your kids are getting on YouTube and have access to everything. It’s such an interesting world we live in, where there’s very little regulation on the internet, and everything is accessible, and we are regulating libraries.”

Bush Hager noted that she understands parents not wanting to take away “intellectual freedom” from their kids while also determining what content is appropriate for them to consume. “That’s why we train librarians to know what is age-appropriate, what is on level for reading,” she explained. “And obviously, I come from a mother who was a librarian. But what this does is to tell these central figures in our communities that they are not knowledgeable enough. So, obviously, that ‘I don’t think so, honey’ is somewhere really deep and guttural, and it came out like word vomit.”

She continued, “Hal is not gonna be able to read or want to read the same thing as Poppy or as Mila. But the point is, there are people that are trusted adults in the library that can decipher that. And parents, as well, we have to take responsibility for our kids at home. But let’s not get rid of Toni Morrison’s books for the kids that do need to read that, that should be reading that.”

Jones applauded Bush Hager’s book-banning rant, stating, “This is good. Preach! You know what? I think you might break the internet.”

Bush Hager wrapped up the conversation with one last criticism. “I think it’s in the 90s percent of the complaints coming about these books are not coming from parents. They’re coming from these organizations, and I’m not into it,” she declared. “I don’t think so, honey! Don’t ever get me started on that again.”

Jenna & Sheinelle fans shared their own reactions to Bush Hager’s hot takes via social media. “Yes!! Thank you @jennabhager for building understanding about what librarians do and explaining what intellectual freedom is,” one person commented underneath a clip from Wednesday’s episode shared on the show’s Instagram page. Another added, “Shout this from the rooftops please!!!”

Someone else shared, “No book is off limits as long as it’s not something that will traumatize my kids. They go to private school and most of their required reading is banned books. I love it.” A different person posted, “More word vomit from JBH, please! We’re here for it!!” A separate commenter stated, “‘That’s why we train librarians!’ from one daughter of an educator to another, thank you!!”

Today With Jenna & Sheinelle, Weekdays, 10 am, NBC