MLK Jr Day 2018: History Channel Slammed For Lack Of Martin Luther King Jr Programming

MLK Day — An MLK Jr. statue. Win McNamee / Getty Images

As President Donald Trump, past presidents and the United States celebrate one of the most important figures in U.S. history, one network has surprisingly little coverage of Martin Luther King Jr or the civil rights movement. According to its schedule the History Channel is sparse on MLK videos on MLK Jr. Day 2018.

At 7 a.m. EST “10 Things You Don't Know About” civil rights was on and then at 8 there was a special on “Stories from the Road to Freedom." From 10 a.m. through the rest of the day there is no planned civil rights or Martin Luther King Jr. programming. The History Channel schedule for the final 14 hours of the day included only various "American Pickers” and "Pawn Stars” episodes.

Once the internet was aware of the lack of MLK programming on the History Channel, twitter outrage ensued.

On MLK Jr. day the @HISTORY channel is honoring him by running an American Pickers marathon. Really d00ds.
— Kris (@KrisAGM) January 15, 2018

“In this current political climate i think it's really brave of the History Channel to use MLK Day as an opportunity to air a marathon of American Pickers reruns,” twitter user Trevor Davis said.

In this current political climate i think it's really brave of the History Channel to use MLK Day as an opportunity to air a marathon of American Pickers reruns
— trevordavis (@TrevvDavis) January 15, 2018

History Channel is honoring Martin Luther King Jr. today by playing ten episodes of his favorite show, American Pickers.
— Theo Taylor (@theotaylorr) January 15, 2018

Ah yes, MLK day. A day that you'd think that the History channel would show more than one civil rights segment at 8am _ because you know. They just gotta. Show Pawn Stars and American Pickers all day. Like they already do every day. _
— _Kris_ (@Kris__Krossing) January 15, 2018

A reddit thread was the first to highlight the History Channel’s schedule.

“It’s literally a federal holiday honoring one of the most prominent figures in American History and they aren’t airing a second of programming about him,” the thread said.

“You've showed 2 hours of MLK Jr. programs on MLK Jr. Day. It's ridiculous that American Pickers and Pawn Stars could not be shown for once, and some actual Civil Rights history be shown. Stop calling it the History Channel, you show almost none,” another Twitter user said.

The History Channel's Twitter account was posting about MLK today, even sharing a Washington Post article about him, but the network still has nothing on the schedule. However, the History Channel’s MLK programming isn't limited to its cable channel. The network is hosting a Facebook Live event dedicated to MLK. “Tonight, we honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as civil rights leaders and activists come together for The King Center's Beloved Community Talk on bridging the racial divide,” the History Channel wrote on Facebook.