Sesame Street has been around for more than 50 years now. The PBS show first aired on November 10, 1969, which means it just celebrated its 52nd anniversary. It was created with the unique idea of having big, life-like puppet characters (a.k.a. muppets) host the show and teach kids about different topics. The show's famous muppet characters, Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Kermit the Frog, and many more, are loved by kids all over the world.
At first, Sesame Street seemed more like an adult show since the topics were too mature or inappropriate for younger viewers. The show has definitely had a few controversial moments over the years. But as time went on, the writers started to become more careful with its content and now it's a show that millions of kids watch every day. Let's take a look at the biggest controversies Sesame Street has had through the years.
7 ‘Sesame Street’ Was Originally For Adults Only
When Sesame Street first debuted, it was nothing like it is now. “When the show first aired in 1969, it featured a number of scenes that adults of today might not feel comfortable showing their children. In some episodes, children played in construction sites and jumped on old box springs; in others, Cookie Monster was shown smoking a pipe. When episodes from this era were released on DVD in 2007, they came with an ‘adults only’ warning,” according to Insider. It took years for the episodes to become completely kid-friendly and even after the writers tried to make the show more appropriate, there have still been some controversies over a few episodes.
6 The First Black Muppet Portrayed Harmful Stereotypes About Black Kids
A year after Sesame Street first aired, the show introduced its first black character. But instead of representing black kids on TV, the show portrayed stereotypes that are harmful to them. “Roosevelt Franklin was a main character on Sesame Street from 1970 to 1975, and was the first black Muppet to appear on the show. Franklin was later removed from Sesame Street after parents criticized the character for promoting a harmful stereotype that black children were ‘rowdy’ and a ‘bad influence’ to other children,” according to Insider. Bad representation is worse than no representation. It took a long time, but Sesame Street is starting to do better now and just added two new black muppets this year.
5 Characters Not Believing Snuffleupagus Is Real Caused A Lot Of Concerns
From 1971 to 1985, Mr. Aloysius Snuffleupagus was just Big Bird’s imaginary friend. When Big Bird tried to tell other characters that he was real, nobody believed him. This made parents concerned about what Sesame Street was teaching kids. Kids need to know people will believe them if they tell the truth. Carol-Lynn Parente, a former executive producer of Sesame Street, told Mental Floss, “All this was really stemming from a specific set of incidences in the news, claims of sexual abuse going on in some daycare centers, and kids being questioned about what was going on. The fear was that if we represented adults not believing what kids said, they might not be motivated to tell the truth. That caused us to rethink the storyline: is something we’ve been doing for 14 years—that seemed innocent enough—now something that’s become harmful?”
4 Some Parents Didn’t Like Cookie Monster’s Eating Habits
Besides Elmo and Big Bird, Cookie Monster is one of the most popular and famous muppets of all time. He’s known for his love of cookies and kids love his goofy personality. But there have been some parents who didn’t like their kids seeing a character eating cookies all the time, and when they spoke out about it, it caused a huge controversy. “Cookie Monster caused a stir when he went from a cookie-gobbling beast to a responsible cookie eater several years ago. But in an effort to satisfy parents who didn't want their own kids to be monsters when it came to cookies, the show saw backlash from others who felt the Cookie Monster's new ‘A Cookie Is a Sometimes Food’ approach was an example of political correctness gone too far,” according to Today. Not every parent is the same though. Some don’t mind a Cookie Monster who eats a lot of cookies, but to make everyone happy, Cookie Monster now has a healthy balance of bananas and cookies.
3 ‘Sesame Street’ Made Fun Of ‘Fox News’
Sesame Street has done a lot of controversial things in the past, but this one caused a war between them and Fox News. In 2009, there was an episode where Oscar the Grouch made fun of Fox News. “In the episode, Oscar appeared as an anchor on the Grouchy News Network, GNN. During his segment, the Muppet receives a call from a viewer who says ‘From now on I am watching Pox News. Now there is a trashy news show,’” according to Insider. Technically, it was Grouchella (the viewer) who made fun of Fox News, but Oscar didn’t exactly defend them and he kind of made fun of CNN as well. He said the news network is “all grouchy, all disgusting, all yucky news all the time.” CNN didn’t really care, but Fox News complained about the episode.
2 Katy Perry Was Cut From The Show
A year after the Fox News controversy, Sesame Street found themselves in another controversy. Katy Perry made a guest appearance on one of the episodes that year, but it got cut from the show since parents were complaining about her outfit. They said her clothes were too revealing for a kids’ show. The show’s producers released a statement following the complaints, “In light of the feedback we’ve received on the Katy Perry music video, which was released on YouTube only, we have decided we will not air the segment on the television broadcast of Sesame Street, which is aimed at preschoolers.”
1 The Show’s YouTube Channel Was Hacked And Replaced With Porn
The next year, the show had yet another controversy. On October 16, 2011, someone hacked the Sesame Street YouTube channel and replaced all of the videos with “hardcore pornography.” Sesame Workshop made a statement after it happened, “We apologize for any inconvenience our audience may have experienced on our Sesame Street YouTube channel. Our channel was compromised and we worked with YouTube/Google to restore our original content. We always strive to provide age-appropriate content for our viewers.”
