Free Republic

The makers of Sesame Street decided to design and release an educational kit titled "Little Children, Big Challenges: Incarceration." The kit is "an educational outreach initiative for families with children (ages 3 – 8) who are coping with a parent’s incarceration." Can you imagine telling a five-year-old about prison? "Our resources," say Sesame Streeters, "provide talking points and tools to help families manage the changes resulting from this situation and to find comfort in one another."

This past week an episode of Sesame Street set off a firestorm of debate over whether a boy muppet named Telly should be ashamed that his muppet friends caught him playing with dolls. In one corner "traditionalists" who called out the episode as gender and sex confused. In the other "modern feminists" who were offended by almost everything the traditionalists said and believe. In light of these op-eds and arguments I decided to do a bit of personal surveying for myself. I popped the question to my bride and her best friend as the two couples were headed to Gramercy...

<p>A fourth accuser is coming forward to claim he engaged in underage sex with former "Sesame Street" puppeteer Kevin Clash.</p> <p>On Monday, Florida-based attorney Jeff Herman filed his third lawsuit alleging that Clash, now 52, engaged in sex with minors. Herman also has filed suits on behalf of two of the previous three accusers.</p>

— Columbia University has a “director of the center for gender and sexuality law” by the name of Katherine Franke who is considered an authority on sexual matters by The New York Times. Her position seems to be that recent scandals in the news are not really scandalous, except in terms of being sensationalized and overblown by the media. She told the paper that Kevin Clash and David Petraeus were victims of a “sex panic” when they resigned from their respective positions. The Times story written by Elizabeth Jensen and Brian Stelter is noteworthy for the claim that Clash, the...

Henry Winkler of "Happy Days" fame is considered one of the nicest people in Hollywood. You don't hear any horror stories about his on-set behavior, and he's managed to leave the iconic Fonzie character behind to play supporting roles in projects like "Arrested Development" and "Here Comes the Boom." Winkler's reaction to puppeteer Kevin Clash resigning from "Sesame Street" amid allegations the puppeteer engaged in sexual acts with minors hardly seemed in character. In fact, Winkler's comment is downright ugly. No one is disputing Clash's talents. Just watch last year's documentary "Being Elmo" to marvel at his many gifts. But...

Another victim has come forward and accused the voice of Sesame Street’s Elmo of engaging in pedophilia. Kevin Clash, the 28-year voice of Elmo, has resigned from the show after another alleged victim has come forward, this time in court. Cecil Singleton has sued Clash for engaging in sexual conduct with the boy when he was 15. Singleton is the second victim to come forward. The reaction of the government-funded PBS’s Sesame Workshop? Condemnation? Disgust? Hardly. The statement: “Sesame Workshop’s mission is to harness the educational power of media to help all children the world over reach their highest potential....

In the south African nation of Namibia, a bizarre muppet-like beast has been shot and killed. Unlike its distant relatives — the abominable snowman, bigfoot, and the chupacabra — this one has been caught on film. Locals in Namibia were escorting a shooting party through the country when they found the body of the strange muppet-like beast, and they picked it up and brought it back to the town with them, according to the Telegraph. Witnesses to the event said that locals saw the creature scavenging for food. One member of the shooting party shot and wounded the beast, and...

A second man has come forward saying he had sex with Kevin Clash, the voice of “Sesame Street” character Elmo, when the accuser was a teenage minor, according to a report. -snip- Cecil Singleton, who is now in his 30s, said he and Clash hooked up on a gay phone sex line in 1993 when he was 15 and the muppeteer was 32, according to a new $5 million lawsuit reported by TMZ. Singleton said Clash “trolled” phone sex lines to meet boys and wooed him with gifts of cash and fancy dinners, the lawsuit said, according to TMZ. Clash...

NEW YORK (AP) — Sesame Workshop says Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash has resigned from "Sesame Street" in the wake of allegations that he had sex with an under-aged youth. Last week a man accused Clash of having sex with him when he was a teenage boy, a charge Clash denied.

The man who accused Elmo’s puppeteer of sexual misconduct reportedly wants to recant his recantation. Sheldon Stephens, 24, last week withdrew sensational claims that, as an underage teen, he had a wild fling with Kevin Clash, the voice behind the beloved Muppet Elmo. Now Stephens is interviewing lawyers in hopes of ripping up the $125,000 deal he reached with Clash, 52, to deny there was any illegal sex, according to TMZ. (snip)

The case of Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash is, as sex scandals sometimes are, poised on the cusp of legally actionable and none of our damn business. (See also Petraeus, David, et al.) Clash, 52, acknowledges having had a relationship with a young man, now 24, while he was over the age of consent. His accuser says it began when he was 16. Clash has taken a leave of absence from Sesame Street while responding to the allegation. If his lover was under the age of consent, that’s a matter for the law. If he was over—whatever you personally think of...

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor stopped by Sesame Street last week to essentially dash Abby Cadabby's hopes of having a career as a princess. "Abby pretending to be a princess is fun, but it is definitely not a career," Sotomayor told the pink puppet in a clip that gained prominence on BuzzFeed, the Washington Post, and TIME . Instead, the justice recommended little girls go to school so they can be a teacher, lawyer, or "even a scientist." CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO

Sonia Sotomayor and Abby

The man who voices the puppet of Elmo on Sesame Street has taken leave amid allegations he had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old boy. Kevin Clash, 52, has taken a leave of absence from the popular children's show after the programme's lawyers were contacted by a 23-year-old man who claims he had a sexual relationship with the puppeteer seven years ago, when he was aged 16. TMZ, who reported the allegations, said that Mr Clash had admitted he had a relationship with the man, but only after the accuser was an adult and said the accusations were both false...

The man who voices the puppet of Elmo on Sesame Street has taken leave amid allegations he had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old boy. Kevin Clash, 52, has taken a leave of absence from the popular children's show after the programme's lawyers were contacted by a 23-year-old man who claims he had a sexual relationship with the puppeteer seven years ago, when he was aged 16. TMZ, who reported the allegations, said that Mr Clash had admitted he had a relationship with the man, but only after the accuser was an adult and said the accusations were both false...

The man who voices beloved children’s character “Elmo” took a leave of absence, after he was accused of having an affair with an underaged boy, Sesame Street officials said today. The allegations against Kevin Clash, 52, go back seven years and the puppeteer said he needed a break from work to fight the allegations.

Romney's roast at the Al Smith Dinner was hilarious, this was inspired by my favorite line. See the video of his and Obama's (also good, but not nearly as good as Romney's) roast here.

I’ve not heard so much talk about Big Bird and Sesame Street since I was six years old! Ever since the first presidential debate this year, when Mitt Romney mentioned Big Bird, with reference to his desire to pull funding for PBS, something about the big yellow bird has been in the news on a daily basis. Now it looks like some “bird brain” has come up with a wacky idea to march on Washington, D.C., in support of Big Bird, on November 3, just three days before the election. Though Romney’s call for stripping subsidizing of PBS only really...

It looks like Mitt Romney was on to something when he promised to fire Big Bird during his first presidential debate: Big Bird makes big bucks! Tax returns from PBS's Sesame Workshop show that the television show shelled out at least $314,072 for the actor behind Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch. That makes Caroll Spinney, who has played everyone's favorite yellow-feathered friend since 1969, a true blue member of the One Percent. But Mr Spinney isn't even the highest paid member of the puppetry staff. Jospeh Mazzarino, who plays Murray, Stinky the Stinkweed, the Two-Headed Monster, Papa Bear and...

As prominent Democrat Dick Harpootlian put it, “Big Bird is iconic. He — or it — she — I don’t know what it is — is an icon with a whole generation or two of Americans.” Well said. If Mitt Romney won’t stand up for giant muppets, who will he stand up for? If we’re destined for heartbreak on election night, my friends, let these words be our solace: A lawyer for Sesame Workshop has requested that the campaign take down the spot, which was slated to run on national cable outlets. “We have received that request,” [Obama spokesman Jen]...

The Big Bird ad stays. Obama campaign adviser Robert Gibbs said Wednesday he didn't know of any plans to take down the controversial ad featuring the famous feathery star, despite a request by Sesame Workshop. Gibbs made the comment on NBC's "Today" show, a day after campaign officials said they were reviewing Sesame Workshop's appeal. The satirical TV ad featured a menacing voiceover warning of Mitt Romney's anti-Big Bird agenda, playing off the Republican nominee's debate claim that he wants to cut funding to PBS. "Big, yellow, a menace to our economy. Mitt Romney knows it's not Wall Street you...

Put this another way. When your campaign strategy loses Matt Lauer, Chris Matthews Bob Shrum, and earns four Pinocchios from the Washington Post, where exactly does that leave you? In a fine, feathered mess, that’s where. Lauer interviewed Obama campaign adviser Robert Gibbs this morning on Today, and asked, “Is that the kind of political ad that a campaign releases when it feels that it has ideas and solutions on its side, or is that the kind of political ad a campaign releases when it simply wants to get attention?” As if on cue, Gibbs insists that Mitt Romney declared...

The Obama campaign apparently is being run by a humor-deficient would-be Jon Stewart: On Tuesday, it launched an ill-advised attempt at snark in an advertisement featuring Big Bird. How bad was the ad? Even the yellow fellow himself was embarrassed, and Sesame Workshop, the multimillion-dollar enterprise with the $1 million–a–year president behind Sesame Street, asked that the ad be taken down. Even President Obama’s amen corner in the media was aghast: ABC News’ Terry Moran pronounced it the work of a campaign “in panic mode.” Somebody should remind Barack Obama that he is, for the moment, president of the United...

Deeply embarrassing, but not entirely the campaign’s fault. If memory serves, Romney’s Big Bird line was the thin reed to which liberals on Twitter were clinging the morning after the Denver debacle: “There’s been a strong grassroots outcry over the attacks on Big Bird. This is something that mothers across the country are alarmed about, and you know, we’re tapping into that,” Psaki told reporters aboard Air Force One on Wednesday… “The larger point… is, aside from our love for Big Bird and Elmo, as is evidenced by the last few days, the point that we’re making here is that...

"Sesame Workshop is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization and we do not endorse candidates or participate in political campaigns. We have approved no campaign ads, and as is our general practice, have requested that the ad be taken down."

Sesame Workshop is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization and we do not endorse candidates or participate in political campaigns. We have approved no campaign ads, and as is our general practice, have requested that the ad be taken down.

More than a dozen American diplomatic missions have been put to the torch over the last month, one of which resulted in the first US Ambassador killed in the line of duty in 33 years. The labor force is near its lowest level in more than 30 years. Gas prices have skyrocketed, and we’re at war in Afghanistan. We are exactly four weeks from the national election. Today, however, Barack Obama will release a new 30-second spot focusing on the true issue that faces our nation …. Big Bird?CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO Even Politico can see the contrasts...

This grant was brought to you by the letters “A” and “R” — as in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, aka the “stimulus bill.” Sesame Workshop, the independent nonprofit corporation that produces the popular childrens’ program Sesame Street, received a $1,067,532 stimulus bill grant in August 2010, via the Department of Health and Human Services. The funding was to promote healthy eating according to the federal Recovery.gov website: SW [i.e., Sesame Workshop] will carry out an expansion of its highly successful Healthy Habits for Life initiative, which promotes improved nutrition and increased physical activity, targeting low-income preschool-aged children and their...

Before Mitt Romney said he was going to stop the subsidy to PBS, even though he likes Big Bird, at the first presidential debate, Sherrie Westin, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Sesame Workshop, told CNN’s Soledad O’Brien that cuts to public broadcasting will not ‘kill Big Bird.’ Westin says, “Sesame Workshop receives very, very little funding from PBS. So, we are able to raise our funding through philanthropic, through our licensed product, which goes back into the educational programming, through corporate underwriting and sponsorship. So quite frankly, you can debate whether or not there should be funding of...

Mitt Romney sure ruffled a lot of feathers over his proposal to eliminate taxpayer funding for government-sponsored TV. As soon as the GOP presidential candidate singled out PBS for cuts during the presidential debate in Denver, the hysterical squawking commenced. Left-leaning celebrities immediately erupted on Twitter. “WOW!!! No PBS!! WTF how about cutting congress’s stuff leave big bird alone,” Whoopi Goldberg fumed. “Mitt is smirky, sweaty, indignant and smug with an unsettling hint of hysteria. And he wants to kill BIG BIRD,” actress Olivia Wilde despaired. “Who picks on Big Bird!!! #bulliesthatswho,” actress Taraji Henson chimed in. Social-media activists called...

Big Bird may seem as apolitical as he is unable to fly, but the eight-foot-tall primrose condor (or canary, depending on who you ask) is no stranger to presidential politics. In fact, as the veteran of even more administrations than Dick Cheney, the jibe from Mitt Romney at Wednesday’s debate wasn’t even the first time the oversize muppet ruffled Republican feathers. Back in 1970, the first time Big Bird visited the White House, he got a little too touchy feely for First Lady Pat Nixon’s tastes, longtime puppeteer Carol Spinney wrote in his 2003 memoir The Wisdom of Big Bird.

Jerry Nelson, puppeteer and voice of The Count on Sesame Street, passed away today at age 78. Nelson voiced the Count von Count, along with other puppets, including Snuffleupagus for nearly 40 years on the children's program, and continued to voice the famed vampire until his death. Nelson passed away due to unknown causes, according to CBC Radio Canada. The following message was shared on Sesame Street's website regarding Nelson's passing: The cast and crew of Sesame Street and the staff of Sesame Workshop deeply mourn the loss of cast member and creator of dozens of Muppet characters, Jerry Nelson....

Jerry Nelson, a master of voices and puppetering who voiced Muppets including Count von Count during more than 40 years with "Sesame Street," has died. He was 78. Also a musician and actor, he took part in dozens of Muppet projects, from the 1971 TV movie "Tales From Muppetland: The Frog Prince," to 1979's "The Muppet Movie," to the 1980s series "Fraggle Rock," to last year's "The Muppets." Nelson joined "Sesame Street," which debuted in 1969, early in the show's run. He soon took on major characters including The Count, Mr. Snuffleupagus, and Sherlock Hemlock. "The cast and crew of...

Elmo imposter hassles tourists for money and gets booted from Central Park Zoo Man dressed up as furry Sesame Street Muppet gets taken away on ambulance An Elmo imposter who has hassled tourists for money for years was taken away from Central Park in an ambulance Sunday afternoon after cops got a call about an emotionally disturbed person. “Elmo” began yelling obscenities when security guards booted him from Central Park Zoo for pestering tourists to pay him to pose for pictures. An emotionally disturbed man dressed as Elmo is taken away by ambulance after hassling tourists for money and shouting...

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) -- It's quiet time on Palestinian Sesame Street. The iconic children's program, known as "Sharaa Simsim" in Arabic, has been put on hold for the 2012 season because of a funding freeze by the U.S. Congress. Sharaa Simsim is one of many U.S.-funded Palestinian programs suffering after Congress froze the transfer of nearly $200 million to the U.S. Agency for International Development in October. The suspension aimed to punish the Palestinians for appealing to the United Nations for statehood. The funding suspension — affecting hospitals, education, and government ministries that all rely on American aid —...

Fox Business News Calls Muppets Communist; Debate Goes Viral A segment on the network was highlighted by Media Matters, reigniting a conversation about whether or not there are political messages in children's movies. If you Googled news about “Muppets” on Monday you were treated to hundreds of news stories and blog items debating whether Disney’s lovable creatures were Communists or not. You can thank Fox Business News and Media Matters for that. Eric Bolling of Follow the Money set the stage on Friday when he hosted a 7-minute segment that argued that The Muppets film – featuring bad-guy oilman Tex...

Brought to you by the letter “X” – Sesame Street’s YouTube channel is back up today after being shut down Sunday when hackers took over the site and replaced the videos with porn.

We all know that many bullies get their start in the sandbox, not the boardroom, and that their youngest victims can nurture the resulting hurt for a lifetime. No surprise, then, that next week, "Sesame Street's" Big Bird and Elmo--who despite their agelessness have been around a long time--will tackle the subject of bullying in its earliest phases. Three new episodes devoted to bullying air Monday, Tuesday and Friday (Oct. 17, 18 and 21), kicking off a broad initiative that includes a Web page with advice and discussion for parents and activities for kids and a five-part video series that...

Sesame Street has a new muppet who is hungry for more than just cookies. The iconic kids show is set to unveil a new impoverished puppet named Lily, whose family faces an ongoing struggle with hunger issues. Lily will be revealed in a one-hour Sesame Street primetime special, Growing Hope Against Hunger, which is being sponsored by Walmart. The special will star country singer Brad Paisley and his wife Kimberly Williams Paisley, as well as the Sesame Street Muppets. “Food insecurity is a growing and difficult issue for adults to discuss, much less children,” said the Paisleys in a statement....

Bert & Ernie from Sesame Street August 29, 2011 (Breakpoint.org) - Sesame Workshop, the company that produces the kid’s show “Sesame Street,” announced last week the Bert and Ernie will not be getting married. Bert and Ernie, two of the show’s Muppets, are best buddies. They live in the same house and sleep in the same room — in separate twin beds. They bicker, they share, they enjoy a bedtime cookie together every night. They’re such good friends that some assume they must be gay. And one group used an online petition to ask “Sesame Street” to let the truth...

They've lived together for 42 years and share a bedroom, but the people who produce "Sesame Street" made it clear on Thursday: Bert and Ernie are not gay. Nor are they heterosexual. They just are. "Bert and Ernie are best friends. They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves. "Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics, they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation," Sesame Workshop said in a statement posted on Facebook. ...

An online petition that has amassed more than 4,000 signatures is calling on producers of venerable children's show "Sesame Street" to have Bert and Ernie tie the knot. The change.org petition, started by Lair Scott on August 4, insists that "Sesame Street" can help teach children about "the tolerance of those that are different." "We are not asking that Sesame Street do anything crude or disrespectful. Only that they allow Bert & Ernie to marry or even add a transgender character to the show," the petition reads. Producers of the show say Bert and Ernie, two male characters who have...

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Will the Children’s Television Workshop give way to same-sex puppet love? An online campaign is calling for the producers of TV’s “Sesame Street” to allow characters Bert and Ernie to get married in an attempt to “put an end to the bullying and suicides of LGBT youth”, according to the group’s Facebook page. The petition letter adds that “[w]e are not asking that Sesame Street do anything crude or disrespectful by allowing Bert & Ernie to marry”, suggesting that the show “even add a transgender character to the show…in a tasteful way”.

This idea isn't going to make a big splash with Rubber Duckie. An online campaign to pressure the producers of "Sesame Street" into having lovable roommates Bert and Ernie get married is gathering steam. Getting hitched would change things for Ernie, who has long sang about how his bath toy, Rubber Duckie, "was the one." More than 700 people have signed on to the petition, posted at change.org. "We are not asking that Sesame Street do anything crude or disrespectful," reads the petition for the muppet merger. "It can be done in a tasteful way. Let us teach tolerance of...

<p>The are-they-or-aren't-they gay jokes about Ernie and Bert have a long history. I think an image of them holding hands was carved by early man in the caves at Lascaux.</p> <p>But could the two actually get married? Huffington Post reports today that more than 900 people have signed petition urging the makers of "Sesame Street" get married. Lair Scott started the petition which reads, in part, "In this horrific age of LGBT kids taking their own lives, they need to know that they ARE Beautiful and their lives are worth living."</p>

Online campaign urges Sesame Street to 'teach tolerance' Big Bird could be best man. That's the image if an online push looking to join Bert and Ernie in gay matrimony is successful. "We are not asking that Sesame Street do anything crude or disrespectful," reads the petition at Change.org. "It can be done in a tasteful way. Let us teach tolerance of those that are different." Sesame Street spokesmen insist the muppet pair are merely "best friends" with "no sexual orientation," reports the New York Daily News. They were "created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with...

Conservative columnist and author Ben Shapiro accused television executives and writers of pushing a liberal agenda in several high profile American television entertainment shows. His book will show how the "most powerful medium of mass communication in human history became a vehicle for spreading the radical agenda of the left side of the political spectrum," according to the publishers HarperCollins. Shapiro interviewed dozens of leading industry figures, some of whom admitted to including a left wing bias in their shows. The results showed "unrepentant abuses of the Hollywood entertainment industry" and how movers and shakers in the television world tried...

The TV series Friends undermined family values; Sesame Street taught ethnic minorities about civil disobedience; Happy Days had a subtle anti-Vietnam subtext; and the 1980s cop show MacGyver tried to persuade pistol-packing Americans that guns are bad. That, at least, is the considered opinion of Ben Shapiro, an investigative author and right-wing columnist who will publish a detailed exposé tomorrow telling how Hollywood producers, writers and actors have been secretly using TV to promote what he calls a "radical" left-leaning political agenda. Shapiro's book, Primetime Propaganda runs to 416 pages and revolves around comments by 70-odd industry heavyweights who he...

It’s a good thing we’re flush with money, highly influential and well respected around the world. Otherwise, this plan might not seem like such a spectacularly fabulous idea. The United States is funding a Pakistani remake of the popular TV children’s show Sesame Street. In a new effort to win hearts and minds in Pakistan, USAID – the development arm of the US government – is donating $20m (£12m) to the country to create a local Urdu version of the show… The remake will star a puppet called Rani, the six-year-old daughter of a peasant farmer, with pigtails and a...

In a new effort to win hearts and minds in Pakistan, USAID - the development arm of the US government - is donating $20m (£12m) to the country to create a local Urdu version of the show. The project aims to boost education in Pakistan, where many children have no access to regular schooling. The show is to be filmed in Lahore and aired later in the year. "The programme is part of a series of ventures that is aimed at developing the educational infrastructure in the country," Virginia Morgan, a spokesperson for USAID, told the BBC. "Education is one...