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November 28, 2007

Even Sesame Street Was Politically Incorrect

Posted by Dave Blount at November 28, 2007 7:38 AM

It's not easy keeping up with political correctness, which demands that all people at all times be judged by up-to-the-minute ideological orthodoxy. Even early episodes of PBS's Sesame Street are now deemed so un-PC that their release on DVD has been accompanied by warning labels.

Objectionable content in the first two years includes a predominance of grumpy characters, Ernie's and Bert's dismal basement apartment, Cookie Monster's overindulgence in non-nutritious cookies, a lonely girl being befriended by an older male stranger, an excessive number of rural scenes inappropriate to the "target child" (a "4-year-old inner-city black youngster"), Big Bird's hallucinations, and the Cookie Monster not only smoking but even eating a pipe while playing Alistair Cookie, host of "Monsterpiece Theater."

Consequently, volumes 1 and 2 carry the warning:

These early "Sesame Street" episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today's preschool child.

At least those first two volumes escaped going down the memory hole.

On a tip from Mjolnir.