Conservative leader calls for defunding of PBS over ‘Sesame Street’ intro of Asian American muppet
By Bryan Ke
A conservative union chairman has called out PBS and proposed to defund the network after its children’s show “Sesame Street” introduced its first-ever Asian American Muppet early this week.
What happened: Matt Schlapp, the president of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), took to Twitter on Monday to criticize PBS and “Sesame Street” for introducing Ji-young, a 7-year-old Korean American Muppet.
- “What race is Ernie is Bert? You are insane PBS and we should stop funding you,” Schlapp tweeted.
- Although the popular American children’s show has already featured Asian Americans in the past, such as Alan Muraoka, who played shopkeeper Alan, Ji-young will make history as the series’ first Asian American Muppet since its inception in 1969.
The reaction: Many social media users quickly called out Schlapp’s comment about a puppet on a children’s TV show.
- Another user also shared screenshots of Schlapp’s past social media posts in which he echoed the same anti-Asian remarks Trump used in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Not the first: This was not the first time a conservative has called out “Sesame Street” for teaching children about the values of respect, health and inclusion.
- Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) criticized Big Bird, one of the show’s most iconic characters, earlier this month after he tweeted about getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
Featured Image via Getty (left), NPR (right)
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