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September 23, 2010 6:22 AM

'Sesame Street' Pulls Katy Perry video from show. Sesame Workshop, which produces the long-running PBS children’s show “Sesame Street,” said on Thursday morning that it would not show a music video planned for the coming 41st season of the series that features the pop singer Katy Perry, citing in its decision the outcry of viewers who had seen the suggestive video online. The video features Ms. Perry singing a parody of her song “Hot ‘N Cold” accompanied by the “Sesame Street” character Elmo. Via NYTimes.com
posted by Fizz (223 comments total)

Outrage!
posted by sfts2 at 6:24 AM on September 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

I love how puritanical and subjective North American television is when it comes to sexuality and censorship.
posted by Fizz at 6:25 AM on September 23, 2010 [5 favorites]

Katy Perry's cat is named Kitty Purry.

Also I think Katy looked nice in her dress.
posted by 2bucksplus at 6:28 AM on September 23, 2010 [10 favorites]

I couldn't catch most of the lyrics, so I'm guessing it was the dress. I'd be interested in reading some of the outcry.
posted by jquinby at 6:28 AM on September 23, 2010

What am I missing? What's suggestive about the video? It might influence kids to listen to shitty pop music? Well, okay, pull it then.
posted by desjardins at 6:28 AM on September 23, 2010 [4 favorites]

Okay, I give up. What's suggestive about this? WHAT?
posted by padraigin at 6:29 AM on September 23, 2010 [3 favorites]

I guess the problem was the shot of her legs?

Cheap production values though, the blue-screen plus animated background style didn't work well at all. Much better is this Feist video.
posted by delmoi at 6:29 AM on September 23, 2010 [6 favorites]

I'd have pulled it because it sucks, nevermind how "suggestive" it is.
posted by Orange Pamplemousse at 6:30 AM on September 23, 2010 [13 favorites]

Apparently having large breasts offends America. Which is odd because America has always been such a big fan of tits.
posted by Fizz at 6:30 AM on September 23, 2010 [11 favorites]

Now we know the answer to 'how is it possible to look up a co-worker's dress?' The asker is the Elmo puppeteer.
posted by Space Coyote at 6:31 AM on September 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

Yeah, I'm not sure what it is suggesting? Elmo and KP are doing it?
posted by josher71 at 6:33 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

Ha! Somehow (Facebook, most likely) we got exposed to this video the other day and my son (3) likes it a lot - he's watched it several times. My wife observed that Katy, um, bounced a bit more than she expected from Sesame Street but hey: people bounce. Maybe the ghost of the innuendo from the actual song is bleeding over into this song and causing people to seize up, but really: this is not a suggestive video, unless the mere existence of a young woman not absolutely covered in calico is suggestive.
posted by dirtdirt at 6:34 AM on September 23, 2010 [4 favorites]

I expected worst. Not much educational values but nothing horrible either...
posted by CitoyenK at 6:35 AM on September 23, 2010

Elmo is a hermy?
posted by Mister_A at 6:36 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

I can't hear about Katy Perry without recalling this.
posted by Menthol at 6:37 AM on September 23, 2010 [4 favorites]

The average age of public that sees the Dutch version of Sesame Street is almost sixty years old; since only pensioners watch television; and they watch everything on it.

I can see that Katy Perry is not aimed at the target audience. She will probably excite them too much.
posted by ijsbrand at 6:37 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

Elmo should hook up with Los Colorados who did a much more fun version of the song (think I saw this on mefi a while back so pardon the repeat - but if you missed it you may like to see it). Besides what child is NOT enamored by an accordion? Accordions are awesome.
posted by dog food sugar at 6:37 AM on September 23, 2010 [3 favorites]

Add me to the list of the confused. Suggestive of what?
posted by Outlawyr at 6:37 AM on September 23, 2010

Shit goes WHOOSH over little kids heads all the time. That's not to say they don't think sexy shit. But if there's anything "suggestive" or "innuendo" I don't see it. It's just as revealing as the old Wonder Woman outfit, and little kids watched that.

I think the "bleeding over" that dirtdirt mentions must be it.

But I agree with Orange Pamplemousse that I'd pull it cuz... it sucks.
posted by symbioid at 6:38 AM on September 23, 2010

Anyway, I agree that Ms. Perry should have dressed more conservatively.
posted by Mister_A at 6:39 AM on September 23, 2010

Richard Pryor doing the alphabet would probably not fly today.
posted by swift at 6:39 AM on September 23, 2010 [11 favorites]

Whoa! You can tell she has breasts in that video. This is obviously not safe for bottle-fed kids, whose parents are all awful human beings.

This comment brought to you by Fightiness®
At Fightiness®, we like to say: Hey, Fuck You!
posted by Mister_A at 6:42 AM on September 23, 2010 [18 favorites]

I'm glad, not because I was offended by Katy Perry but because I was offended by that version of "Sesame Street." It seems that since Elmo rose to prominence, CGI sets and environments have become way overused. The video has none of the charm of what makes Sesame Street great.
posted by moviehawk at 6:43 AM on September 23, 2010 [21 favorites]

I wish there was more information. I have no idea what is suggestive about it.
posted by Danila at 6:43 AM on September 23, 2010

Danila, you can tell she is a human female in the video. IS THAT NOT PROVOCATIVE ENOUGH?

Seriously, won't you please think of the children, just this once?
posted by Mister_A at 6:45 AM on September 23, 2010

We used to live on Sesame Street, but in 2010 we live in Elmo's World.
posted by swift at 6:45 AM on September 23, 2010 [6 favorites]

I don't get it, either.

But I also think "Sesame Street" really can't top this when it comes to using popular songs for education purposes.

Also, all I know is PBS still shows episodes of "Thomas the Tank Engine" with George Carlin narrating........
posted by zizzle at 6:47 AM on September 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

I quite enjoy breasts and find nothing offensive about the video for adults or kids but her entire schtick is having knockers and looking surprised and it gets tired fast.
posted by fleetmouse at 6:47 AM on September 23, 2010

I wish there was more information. I have no idea what is suggestive about it

Here you go, an article in the Telegraph.

Via CBS. " Katy Perry has turned up the heat on "Sesame Street." Recently, the one-time gospel singer taped a seemingly innocent song with Elmo, a child-friendly version of her 2009 hit "Hot 'n Cold." Set to air New Year's Eve, the clip found its way to YouTube, rapidly approaching the million-hit mark. But Perry's low-cut costume has caused an uproar. Soon parents started weighing in on her performance. The clip has garnered 6,000 YouTube comments so far.

"Thank you for speeding up the puberty process," wrote one mom. "You can practically see her ***," wrote another.

"Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez said that's when things went sour for "Sesame Street" execs."
posted by Fizz at 6:48 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

I saw this yesterday. I was distracted by wondering what was keeping her dress up, especially in the scenes where she was running.
posted by not that girl at 6:49 AM on September 23, 2010

"Billy turn your eyes away from that filthy video. I am going to send Sesame Street a blistering email."

"But, Mom. . . "

"I'm sorry, Billy, no Sesame Street today go play Call of Duty or something."
posted by MasonDixon at 6:50 AM on September 23, 2010 [16 favorites]

They won't let Katy on but Dennis Franz was okay? His butt cleavage isn't exactly something you can ignore, either.
posted by theredpen at 6:50 AM on September 23, 2010

Okay, I give up. What's suggestive about this? WHAT?

She's not wearing an American flag burka.
posted by dirigibleman at 6:50 AM on September 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

Sesame Street is downright reactionary compared to what it used to be. Jesse Jackson leading children in a group affirmation of identity would certainly be seen as teh Marxisms nowadays.
posted by banal evil at 6:50 AM on September 23, 2010 [16 favorites]

I went on YouTube to watch the original, thinking maybe there's some sort of objection by association. But not even. The sauciest thing in either of the videos is a sultry wacky waving inflatable arm-flailing tube man.
posted by explosion at 6:52 AM on September 23, 2010

Here's the full video, sans announcer.
posted by swift at 6:53 AM on September 23, 2010

Why do they want to deny the Sesame Street audience wanking material?
posted by 0xdeadc0de at 6:54 AM on September 23, 2010

Woman can't lip-sync for shit.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:55 AM on September 23, 2010 [9 favorites]

The Christian Taliban wins again.
posted by BYiro at 6:56 AM on September 23, 2010 [8 favorites]

I always thought Elmo was an ass man.
posted by photoslob at 6:58 AM on September 23, 2010 [3 favorites]

Sesame Street is downright reactionary compared to what it used to be.

Sesame Street isn't being reactionary - it's the the outcry from a select group of overly conservative viewers.

NYTimes: "citing in its decision the outcry of viewers who had seen the suggestive video online..."
posted by artificialard at 6:59 AM on September 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

Elmo is naked, obviously.
posted by R. Mutt at 7:02 AM on September 23, 2010 [5 favorites]

Parents overreacting? Well I never.
posted by smackfu at 7:02 AM on September 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

It was definitely the breasts. But not because of prudish concerns, oh no. The Sesame Street people simply realized that Katy Perry couldn't compete (in that department) with the industry standard set in the 80s by children's television favorite, Miss Yvonne.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:06 AM on September 23, 2010 [4 favorites]

I was thinking this was a little payback for the firing of Melanie Martinez, but couldn't articulate why a vacuous woman slathered in make-up with her boobs hanging out necessarily represented the conservative cause.

Thankfully a YouTube commenter brings it together: "It will teach kids not to get confused about being male or female. :) Too many people telling their kids it is ok to be weird. Tits are great!"
posted by 0xdeadc0de at 7:07 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

Katy Perry is a secret Muslim.
posted by iamck at 7:08 AM on September 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

Apparently having large breasts offends America.

Uh, what video were you watching?
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 7:08 AM on September 23, 2010 [12 favorites]

I think we need a link to the sexual suggestive version of this video and not the clean version we see here.
posted by Rarebit Fiend at 7:09 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'm just glad they pulled Katy Perry. Sick of her.
posted by stormpooper at 7:09 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

Yes, because heaven forfend that we groggy, sleepy and caffeine-deprived fathers have something pleasant to look at while the kids are watching Sesame Street. ;)
posted by zarq at 7:10 AM on September 23, 2010 [5 favorites]

The suggestive part is presumably that she's wearing a high hemmed, low-cut dress. For comparison see how Destiny's Child presented themselves for the audience.
posted by dgaicun at 7:10 AM on September 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

Maybe the ghost of the innuendo from the actual song is bleeding over into this song and causing people to seize up

More bleeding over.
posted by Combustible Edison Lighthouse at 7:10 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

Which is to say, Miss Piggy has larger breasts. And flaunts them more often, I might add.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 7:11 AM on September 23, 2010 [3 favorites]

It's not worth pulling the video over, but I'm surprised they used that dress, which, not that it's assless chaps or anything, does strike me as unusually revealing for children's TV.

But really, who cares if they won't show Katy Perry's breasts on Sesame Street? This isn't a Jackson-Timberlake level of ridiculousness IMO; I'm still vastly more concerned about Cookie Monster branching out to leafy greens.
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 7:11 AM on September 23, 2010 [8 favorites]

Let me get this straight: They want to ditch Katy Perry, but keep Elmo?!

I'm afraid Sesame Street has lost the path.
posted by sourwookie at 7:12 AM on September 23, 2010 [4 favorites]

Did the mothers complaining about the suggestiveness of this video blindfold their babies while they breastfed?
posted by MegoSteve at 7:15 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

From the outcry, I guess that the current generation of Sesame Street parents didn't grow up watching Wonder Woman.
posted by amarynth at 7:15 AM on September 23, 2010

I really wish that the Sesame Street people had cited her horrific mugging as the reason for pulling the clip.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:16 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

I would say the charges of "crimes against Jill Sobule" and "regressive wolf in progressive clothing" are enough to pull Katy Perry from anything.
posted by kmz at 7:18 AM on September 23, 2010 [14 favorites]

we got exposed to this video the other day and my son (3) likes it a lot

I laughed at mention of his age. Necessary, though, for your point.

I'm still vastly more concerned about Cookie Monster branching out to leafy greens.

Yeah, goddamn. Also, what the hell, Snuffleupagus: (from the wiki)

In an interview on a Canadian telethon that was hosted by Bob McGrath, Snuffy's performer, Martin P. Robinson, revealed that Snuffy was finally introduced to the main human cast mainly due to a string of high profile and sometimes graphic stories of pedophilia and sexual abuse of children that had been aired on shows such as 60 Minutes and 20/20. The writers felt that by having the adults refuse to believe Big Bird despite the fact that he was telling the truth, they were scaring children into thinking that their parents would not believe them if they had been sexually abused and that they would just be better off remaining silent. On the same telethon, during Robinson's explanation, Loretta Long uttered the words "Bronx daycare," a reference to a news event on New York TV station WNBC-TV in which there were reports of alleged sexual abuse at a Bronx daycare center. This was seen in the documentary Sesame Street Unpaved.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 7:18 AM on September 23, 2010 [3 favorites]

Elmo like boobies.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:19 AM on September 23, 2010

On reading more: I had heard of Katy Perry, but had never seen her before that I know of. It's interesting to me that Sesame Street so often uses celebrities that the kids who watch the show have presumably not heard of. I mean, either the little kids are going to be like, "Hey! It's Katy Perry with Elmo!" in which case, they've seen her cleavage before, or they're just going to see her as some random grown-up, in which case perhaps some other random grownup might do just as well, if Sesame Street doesn't want to be in the business of introducing children to very low-cut dresses.

That said, I didn't really find the video "suggestive." She wasn't making provocative gestures or vamping for the camera. She was just wearing a really low-cut strapless dress, which raises the question of whether a woman baring her upper chest is in and of itself "suggestive." Would it have been suggestive if the song was about water and she was wearing a swimsuit?

I was a little uncomfortable with it, but not sure that my discomfort made any sense.
posted by not that girl at 7:20 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

OUTRAGE!!!

As everyone probably knows now, Sesame Street is a large, money-making brand. It appears their mission of education is now a secondary concern. As such, their primary goal is to maintain a customer base. In that base their are people who find short, low-cut, cleavage revealing dresses to be inappropriate viewing for younger children. There are also customers who would think it's fine. In this case, they decided that offending the former wasn't worth the risk to the brand, so they cut the segment to protect it.

If I were to get upset about anything, it would be the transition this show went through -- from education, to edutainment, to pure entertainment. It's now an entertainment show for children, even if it is on PBS.
posted by bionic.junkie at 7:21 AM on September 23, 2010 [6 favorites]

Um, why couldn't she have worn a dress that was a little less cleveagely? It wouldn't have been that hard.
posted by Michael Pemulis at 7:22 AM on September 23, 2010 [3 favorites]

More bleeding over.

hee hee muppet sookie.
posted by The Whelk at 7:23 AM on September 23, 2010

I think the objection has to be from how she looks topless when she crosses her arms. Not that I agree, but hey, it got sesame street into the news...
posted by lemniskate at 7:26 AM on September 23, 2010

I can only imagine how Scatty Fairy went over.
posted by I Foody at 7:26 AM on September 23, 2010

Having now watched the clip: Is it even possible for a celebrity to appear on Sesame Street and not have it be absolutely adorable?
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 7:27 AM on September 23, 2010 [5 favorites]

It seems that since Elmo rose to prominence, CGI sets and environments have become way overused. The video has none of the charm of what makes Sesame Street great.

This, yes. Take a look at, for example, Snuffy's debut in the third season of the show. It's a show about a neighborhood in New York! There are traffic sounds in the background! It seems like people live there! And also, sometimes, there are giant birds and a creepy imaginary mammoth thing!

Now Sesame Street is just another version of Barney and Friends, set in a fake place with no correspondence to any idea of reality, imagination, or wonder.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:28 AM on September 23, 2010 [4 favorites]

swift: "Richard Pryor doing the alphabet would probably not fly today."

Richard Pryor doing anything Richard Pryor did wouldn't fly today on television. For the most part, it didn't fly on television then, either.
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 7:29 AM on September 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

I don't think of myself as being especially conservative, but when I saw this pre-outcry, my only impression was that that dress is completely inappropriate for a children's show. That dress is inappropriate for streetwear, daywear, on a beach (@not that girl - if she had been wearing a swimsuit with that top, yes, it would have been inappropriate), on a glacier, up, down, and almost any other occasion. I'd give it an OK for a prom, entertainment industry event, or club.

This is not an issue of teaching children to be ashamed of their or their mothers' bodies. This song should have nothing to do with breasts and yet here we are, they've been introduced into the discussion. That's why the dress is inappropriate.
posted by maryr at 7:29 AM on September 23, 2010 [8 favorites]

This... this is a joke, right?
posted by GhostintheMachine at 7:29 AM on September 23, 2010

If I were to get upset about anything, it would be the transition this show went through -- from education, to edutainment, to pure entertainment. It's now an entertainment show for children, even if it is on PBS.

Sadly they haven't released proper seasonal boxed sets, but the Sesame Street: Old School series does contain the highlights of the early years. Old School vol. 1 covers 1969-1974 and vol. 2 covers 1974-1979. They're each a 3 disc set, so they do have a lot of material, just not the complete archive one might wish for.
posted by jedicus at 7:31 AM on September 23, 2010

not that girl: "On reading more: I had heard of Katy Perry, but had never seen her before that I know of. It's interesting to me that Sesame Street so often uses celebrities that the kids who watch the show have presumably not heard of"

bionic.junkie: "As everyone probably knows now, Sesame Street is a large, money-making brand. It appears their mission of education is now a secondary concern."


These are connected. Kids don't buy things - adults do, and their sense of whether Sesame Street has value is tied pretty intricately with whether they're occasionally entertained by the things on it.
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 7:31 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

Michael Pemulis: "Um, why couldn't she have worn a dress that was a little less cleveagely? It wouldn't have been that hard."

THIS!

I can't say I'd be shocked or offended by seeing how Perry was dressed in this video, but c'mon, they chose this dress. What the hell were they thinking? No one is asking her to wear a burka, but could we make a nod towards decorum? Or, at least, could we at least have a Sesame Street that doesn't suck, so that we'd be willing to overlook this minor faux-pas?
posted by Reverend John at 7:32 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

OMG! Look at all that red pubic hair!!!
posted by chillmost at 7:32 AM on September 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

i'm way liberal, but i don't see it as some teabagger conspiracy that people would complain about this being on a pbs kids' show. i was kind of surprised when i saw the first publicity on it, and a bit creeped out in the sense that i would be a bit creeped out if like prince showed up on there with his wiener bulging out all over the place; katy perry is kinda like prince in that she's trying to come off all pure-christian and shit while trying to cram her tits into as much of our visual field as she can manage.

that doesn't mean i don't love those univision-kinda kids' shows where almost-topless pole dancers are like playing hide-n-seek with four-year-olds, because that shit is hilarious! but 'sesame street' isn't about that, and that's okay.

plus, gaga would have had more class than this, and more creativity.
posted by fallacy of the beard at 7:35 AM on September 23, 2010 [5 favorites]

Yo Gabba Gabba has Jack Black and Sarah Silverman.

Also 8 bit pixel art, because kids know what that is.
posted by Artw at 7:36 AM on September 23, 2010 [3 favorites]

This is not an issue of teaching children to be ashamed of their or their mothers' bodies. This song should have nothing to do with breasts and yet here we are, they've been introduced into the discussion. That's why the dress is inappropriate.

I'm of the opinion that they would have been introduced much less into the discussion if people had not waged a campaign to get the video not shown on Sesame Street.
posted by josher71 at 7:36 AM on September 23, 2010

As atrocious as the song is (and how sad is it that she needed to autotune on Sesame Street?) it's kind of perfect for the show. It's basically a teaching tool for young children to learn paired opposites. In the same way that Stevie Wonder's Jungle Fever is a teaching tool about how to conjugate the verb "to have."
posted by allen.spaulding at 7:36 AM on September 23, 2010 [3 favorites]

This song should have nothing to do with breasts and yet here we are, they've been introduced into the discussion. That's why the dress is inappropriate.

They've only been introduced to the discussion because some people decided the dress was inappropriate. It's circular logic to say "we're discussing the dress because it's inappropriate and it must be inappropriate because we're having this discussion."

It's not enough that some people were offended or thought the dress was inappropriate. No doubt some people would be offended that she didn't have her head covered, or that her face was visible, or her lower legs. At some point, you have to stop caring about the possibility that some people might be offended.

That dress is inappropriate for streetwear, daywear, on a beach (@not that girl - if she had been wearing a swimsuit with that top, yes, it would have been inappropriate)

Are you serious? Not appropriate at the beach? It covers most of her upper legs and almost her entire torso. What, to your mind, would be appropriate swimwear for a woman? This?
posted by jedicus at 7:38 AM on September 23, 2010 [10 favorites]

Jeez, from the outcry you would've thought she'd flashed a nipple for 4 seconds or something.
posted by briank at 7:38 AM on September 23, 2010

Hey, they pulled a clip with the character that unequivocally ruined Sesame Street. I'll take it!
posted by usonian at 7:43 AM on September 23, 2010 [3 favorites]

Having now watched the clip: Is it even possible for a celebrity to appear on Sesame Street and not have it be absolutely adorable?

Yes.

Her version was better.
posted by zarq at 7:43 AM on September 23, 2010 [3 favorites]

I also have a mild suspicion that former "wholesome" child stars who reveal they are only human or realize that the charts favor sex, drugs, and rock n' roll are scandal-bait and judged by a different standard. For reference, see the kurfuffle over Momsen's revelation that she's a teenager.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 7:45 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

This video was brought to you by the letter C-cup.*
posted by ericb at 7:46 AM on September 23, 2010

What is a string quartet? Kronos plays soccer with Big Bird.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:46 AM on September 23, 2010 [4 favorites]

Sadly they haven't released proper seasonal boxed sets, but the Sesame Street: Old School series does contain the highlights of the early years. Old School vol. 1 covers 1969-1974 and vol. 2 covers 1974-1979. They're each a 3 disc set, so they do have a lot of material, just not the complete archive one might wish for.

Probably worth noting, in reference to the main discussion going on here, that the "Old School" Sesame Street DVD sets, in the irony of all ironies, come with a parental warning indicating that these DVDs are intended for adults and may be inappropriate for children.
posted by The Gooch at 7:47 AM on September 23, 2010 [4 favorites]

Sesame Street used to talk frankly about things like breastfeeding.

Now it's all bottles.
posted by jedicus at 7:54 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

According to TMZ:

"Fact is ... what looks like Katy's bare chest is actually covered in flesh-colored mesh that goes all the way to her neck."

posted by ericb at 7:54 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

i also see it like this: i'm really happy that cable tv has come around to the idea that we can have adults-only programming that does not have to be rendered kid-friendly on the chance that a child might see it. (i was pleasantly surprised about what louie c.k. could get away with on fx this past season.) i think it is a fair exchange that kids' programming can be as conservative and non-controversial as even strict parents want it to be. so the puritans can keep their prayerful hands off my adult stuff, and i'll keep my dirty hands off theirs.
posted by fallacy of the beard at 8:00 AM on September 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

Sesame Street's demise began with Elmo. That is all.
posted by PuppyCat at 8:06 AM on September 23, 2010 [4 favorites]

Furries everywhere rejoice.
posted by bardic at 8:07 AM on September 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

so the puritans can keep their prayerful hands off my adult stuff, and i'll keep my dirty hands off theirs.

Except that the puritans are claiming the free airwaves, while our preferred programming gets relegated to paid television.
posted by explosion at 8:07 AM on September 23, 2010

Yeah, I find the cheap green screen "set" more offensive than her outfit.

This is the high-water mark of musician appearances on SS...

Stevie Wonder & Grover
posted by JBennett at 8:08 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

Sorry, here is the full clip. It's so great.
posted by JBennett at 8:09 AM on September 23, 2010 [11 favorites]

I'm going to do something I never thought I'd do and steal a Metafilter comment from Al Roker, but on Today, they were commenting about how ridiculous it is and how some people just seem to be itching for a fight, any fight. As Anne Curry said "Kids have seen those before."

Anyway, Roker made the good point that it shouldn't matter because "Katy Perry is a cartoon character already."

I laughed.

What's not funny is how much these conservative idiots don't realize how much they sound like their dreaded Taliban when they start insisting women be overly modest.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:11 AM on September 23, 2010 [4 favorites]

Matt runs Suicide Girls cheesecake ads.

MEFI reaction: O NOES BOOBIE ADS INAPPROPRIATE

Sesame Street nixes Katy Perry cheesecake segment after parental complaints.

MEFI reaction: LOL CHRISTIAN PSYCHO PRUDES RUIN EVERYTHING

... Welcome to the bizarro world of MetaFilter sensibilities.
posted by dgaicun at 8:13 AM on September 23, 2010 [13 favorites]

"...not that it's assless chaps or anything..."

Chaps are assless by definition.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 8:15 AM on September 23, 2010 [5 favorites]

This doesn't bode well for an airing of Lady Gaga's appearance on Sesame Street which ends with dozens of poisoned Muppets choking and collapsing to the ground.
posted by Rarebit Fiend at 8:19 AM on September 23, 2010 [6 favorites]

"i would be a bit creeped out if like prince showed up on there with his wiener bulging out all over the place"

Odd that you should mention that, as I do recall a number of Sesame Street episodes from my youth which featured Gregory Hines and another dancer (his brother, maybe?) in some serious bulgy pants.

Yes, here it is.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 8:19 AM on September 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

... Welcome to the bizarro world of MetaFilter sensibilities.

I'm curious if you are joking, and which part you are joking about - are either of the lolspeak versions of the MeFi reactions your take on the actual reactions? Can you not tell the difference between pornographic ads (or, ads for pornography, anyway) and a non-sexual video from a children's show thats only (non-qualitative) objectionable issue is that the woman in it is wearing dress that some people consider to be revealing?
posted by dirtdirt at 8:21 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

Shit goes WHOOSH over little kids heads all the time.

Once when I was a boy, Father Beese brought home a copy of Playboy that someone had left in his office. I flipped through it and, seeing no advertisements for toys in it, disinterestedly put it back.
posted by Joe Beese at 8:25 AM on September 23, 2010 [4 favorites]

Stevie Wonder & Grover

Dear alternate history novelists: Please create a version of American history that continues in this vein, without the intervening unpleasantness of the eighties. It could involve Ronald Reagan getting a lead in Bonanza in the sixties, a coca leaf blight in the seventies, and a President Asner. And cardigans. Lots and lots of cardigans.
posted by condour75 at 8:25 AM on September 23, 2010 [6 favorites]

This doesn't bode well for an airing of Lady Gaga's appearance on Sesame Street which ends with dozens of poisoned Muppets choking and collapsing to the ground.

DEAR LADY GAGA,

PLEASE KILL MURRAY FIRST.

THANK YOU.

Z
posted by zarq at 8:29 AM on September 23, 2010

I don't know about y'all, but, were I asked to perform on a television program aimed at 3–6-year-olds, the first outfit I'd reach for would be a push-up mico-mini that appears to be two sizes too small in the bust. I wouldn't have pulled the clip, and obviously Sesame Street's producers gave it the green light initially, but anyone claiming to be shocked or appalled is being willfully truculent.

Outrage-for-outrage's-sake is… outrageous? Is that how that works?
posted by wreckingball at 8:33 AM on September 23, 2010

/gets around to watching said video.

You Americans are insane.
posted by Artw at 8:35 AM on September 23, 2010 [3 favorites]

Chaps are assless by definition.

Pantsless chaps just doesn't have that zing, though.
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 8:36 AM on September 23, 2010

It's now an entertainment show for children, even if it is on PBS.

Have you watched "Sesame Street" lately?
posted by drezdn at 8:41 AM on September 23, 2010

"... Welcome to the bizarro world of MetaFilter sensibilities."

It's like Metafilter is a collection of distinct personalities with differing opinions rather than a monolithic hive mind speaking as one.
posted by Mitheral at 8:42 AM on September 23, 2010 [3 favorites]

OZ
posted by clavdivs at 8:43 AM on September 23, 2010

I think it's really lame that the video was pulled; as someone said it above, Katy's dress was no more risque than some of Miss Piggy's outfits. However, I am glad for this thread -- I love all the other celebrity-ish videos that were posted!! Thanks!
posted by bluefly at 8:45 AM on September 23, 2010

Can you not tell the difference between pornographic ads (or, ads for pornography, anyway) and a non-sexual video from a children's show thats only (non-qualitative) objectionable issue is that the woman in it is wearing dress that some people consider to be revealing?

why should we expect tell the difference if perry can't? as has been mentioned, if she's selling sex as part of her image, then good for her, but if she's going to dress exactly the same way in a kids' show, why would we interpret the sales pitch differently? even madonna didn't promote her children's books wearing a cone bra.
posted by fallacy of the beard at 8:46 AM on September 23, 2010

the woman in it is wearing dress that some people consider to be revealing?

"revealing" is a matter of opinions and feelings now? No, it's an objective statement. The dress reveals her cleavage. It is revealing. It is objectively more revealing than a dress that covered her chest.
posted by Space Coyote at 8:49 AM on September 23, 2010

MEFI reaction: O NOES BOOBIE ADS INAPPROPRIATE

Ironically, that wasn't really what most people said at the time. Those in favor of hiding the text ads cited a variety of reasons, including that they made it impossible to forward threads to work colleagues.

People complaining for moral/religious reasons (well, one person in particular) seemed to have been outliers.
posted by zarq at 8:51 AM on September 23, 2010

Who knew that a Christian evangelical girl from Goleta would be able to generate more hype and controversy than Jimi Hendrix and the Sex Pistols in their prime? You can't buy this kind of publicity.
posted by blucevalo at 8:51 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

That should be "hiding the text and image ads"
posted by zarq at 8:51 AM on September 23, 2010

There are kids in the target audience who wear more revealing clothes than that.
posted by brundlefly at 8:57 AM on September 23, 2010

Katy Perry might actually get my 7-year-old to watch Sesame Street.

Man, I have tried and tried, but my kids want nothing to do with Sesame Street, and it makes me sad, because I loved me some Big Bird when I was a kid. My mom says a good part of the reason I could read before I was 4 was thanks to Sesame Street.

I blame Elmo. Damn Elmo, ruined everything. Stupid naked red monster preschooler with horrible grammar.
posted by Lulu's Pink Converse at 9:00 AM on September 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

Breasts huh? I assumed the outcry was over autotune.

The things people get worked up about...
posted by rusty at 9:05 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

It is objectively more revealing than a dress that covered her chest.

You are correct. I meant, and should have written, "too revealing".

why should we expect tell the difference if perry can't?

I think that is a bad faith argument. You can tell the difference, she can tell the difference, we all can tell the difference.
posted by dirtdirt at 9:06 AM on September 23, 2010

Elmo really does need to put on some clothes.
posted by Sticherbeast at 9:09 AM on September 23, 2010

FAMOUS MONSTER: "Having now watched the clip: Is it even possible for a celebrity to appear on Sesame Street and not have it be absolutely adorable?"

Eponysterical.
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 9:09 AM on September 23, 2010

Apparently having large breasts offends America. Which is odd because America has always been such a big fan of tits.

But she doesn't have particularly large breasts. The only thing that is weird is she's wearing something that to me looks like a corset, which is usually considered a kind of underwear or lingerie. From my cultural context, that's a sexified outfit, not a neutral or play-with-the-kids sort of clothing. So it just seems a little strange.

Of course, the cultural context may be changing - certainly people in this thread seem to think this is normal, and I have noticed clothing on the streets changing (people wear what look like tights to me with nothing covering them, e.g.) so it may be old-fashioned of me to see it as particularly sexified. But it isn't about being comfortable with bodies - my parents used to swim naked around us, for instance, because it's more comfortable - it's the "sending sexy signals" part. To me, lingerie means "let's get it on". Bodies in themselves don't indicate sex, but sexy things, by definition, do.
posted by mdn at 9:12 AM on September 23, 2010 [8 favorites]

sexy signals, I meant...
posted by mdn at 9:13 AM on September 23, 2010

This is strange; they seemed to think Cheech was an appropriate guest star. And lets not forget all the poor muppets who were let go, like Roosevelt Franklin, fired for being too rowdy.
posted by TedW at 9:18 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

Who knew that a Christian evangelical girl from Goleta...

Wait, she's from Goleta? As in UCSB-student-disease-pit Goleta? Damn, I'll bet they didn't just pull the video; CTW probably had to quarantine it in order to shop-vac all the Muppets back to health.

Much better is this Feist video.

OMG, I want to have children now just so I can die of delight watching them experience that.
posted by kittyprecious at 9:20 AM on September 23, 2010

I think that is a bad faith argument. You can tell the difference, she can tell the difference, we all can tell the difference.

how it is in bad faith? perry is selling herself to a kid audience wearing clothes designed to sell herself to horny men. i think it's tacky, but i don't think it's scandalous. my thing is just that i don't think parents who object to it for their kids are necessarily being prudish or unreasonable.
posted by fallacy of the beard at 9:20 AM on September 23, 2010

For those who care: ...their are people = there are people...
posted by bionic.junkie at 9:22 AM on September 23, 2010

OMG, I want to have children now just so I can die of delight watching them experience that.

My kids LOVE that video. They keep singing the song over and over again. It's kind of adorable.

I really have to get their singing along to it on video.
posted by zarq at 9:24 AM on September 23, 2010

"revealing" is a matter of opinions and feelings now? No, it's an objective statement.

That's just ridiculous, and you know it, SC. If you're taking language to that extreme, you could say a full head-to-floor black shroud is revealing because it "reveals" the height of the wearer. It's entirely people's opinions of what is revealed that is relevant.

And switching tangents, would people please stop it with the "Elmo killed the magic" line? It's not your Sesame Street anymore, because your childhood is gone. The world has managed to move on and be a little different now. Sesame Street benefits from years of experts studying education, and they've altered their approach to take advantage of this increased understanding of children's learning. You sound like crotchety grandparents grousing about modern medical methods being somehow worse than the days of leeches and cod liver oil. Kids watching Elmo today will complain in the same way when they're parents and Sesame Street doesn't look the same as it does today.

Seeing a chef fall down stairs holding a dozen cream pies doesn't magically teach kids counting better than a claymation Ernie and Bert, and it's ridiculous to suggest otherwise. And considering they've had guests make appearances throughout the show's history, complaining about its "recent" descent into celebrity entertainment is foolish.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 9:27 AM on September 23, 2010 [5 favorites]

It makes sense to me that the schizophrenic puritanical / overly sexualized culture of the US is the reason why so many women in our culture have body issues. (Which pisses me off because people that I love are women and I hate to see them hurting and I hate to think so many women can't recognize their own beauty).

This shit starts in childhood. It's like when you're a kid and you skin your knee: it doesn't really hurt until you look up at an adult and gauge their reaction. If the adult face is twisted in horror and concern, the kid starts bawling like crazy. If the parent is all cool or calmly breaks out the bandaid, the kiddo just continues on playing.

Brittney Spears used to tick me off because she was always deliberately playing virgin-whore double entendres and triggering a lot of it on a just below conscious level. And dang, look at what a cautionary example for divided personality she turned out to be. Katy Perry is obnoxious sometimes, but she is what she is at least. More damage is done to children by publically judging her than this segment would have done, even though the dress is at least borderline work/school inappropriate. (it's way appropriate for any personal life use, jeez.)
posted by Skwirl at 9:30 AM on September 23, 2010 [3 favorites]

Sesame Street's demise began with Elmo. That is all.

I was going to say they jumped the shark when Snuffleupagus was revealed to the adults but that was about a year after Elmo started with his bullshit.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 9:39 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

I blame Elmo. Damn Elmo, ruined everything. Stupid naked red monster preschooler with horrible grammar.

There are good things about Elmo.

He's a character which kids directly identify with -- a child who is learning about the world around him. He's the one adults explain things to, in language that's perhaps a little easier for a younger child to understand. There was a wonderful episode of Sesame Street where a fire broke out in Mr. Hooper's store. Firemen arrive and take care of it. But Elmo is frightened afterwards and refuses to enter the building. A fireman, wearing his gear, explains to Elmo what each piece of the equipment that he's wearing is, and how it would protect him while putting out a fire. I can't find a clip of it on YouTube, but it's the sort of scene that wouldn't necessarily be as effective, reassuring and educational if they had used another character. There's a video of it available on Amazon.

He teaches basic lessons at a relate-able level for toddlers.

Toddlers don't speak perfectly. They don't use perfect grammar. They may have a tongue-thrust lisp, or skip words when trying to communicate. Elmo isn't perfect. He sounds like a toddler. I believe that's a large part of his appeal to children.
posted by zarq at 9:39 AM on September 23, 2010 [9 favorites]

Unless I missed something in some of the articles posted after the OP (there are some things I'll force myself to read TMZ for, but this isn't one of them), Perry didn't choose that dress for herself. It was probably chosen by wardrobe.
posted by codacorolla at 9:42 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

Holy shit, what a bunch of prudes.
posted by zzazazz at 9:42 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

actually, seems the cool move on perry's part here would be to offer to reshoot, or shoot a different segment, wearing clothes. that's what dolly parton would do, and she is way classy.
posted by fallacy of the beard at 10:02 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

They pulled it because at 0:58 in the video, you can briefly see Elmo's clitoris.

Oh, come now. All Tickle-Me-Elmo dolls are dudes because when they leave the factory, they give them each two test tickles.
posted by straight at 10:11 AM on September 23, 2010 [24 favorites]

she's wearing something that to me looks like a corset, which is usually considered a kind of underwear or lingerie

You mean like what Disney put Snow White in? Or Sleeping Beauty? For little girls, that shape is a princessy/dress up kind of thing.
posted by ValkoSipuliSuola at 10:16 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

yes! i carefully watched the video and found the problem. its simple,the dress was on backwards, if you don't get my drift, watch again and check out the backside of her dress. they should reshoot the video with the correction made on the dress.
posted by tustinrick at 10:18 AM on September 23, 2010

Just a reminder - there is a lot of women's clothing that falls between what Katy Perry is wearing in this video and a burqa. For example, Jessica Alba, Heidi Klum, and Sarah Jessica Parker all managed to avoid controversial clothing. As did aforementioned Dolly Parton who showed cleavage and still looks classier than Katy Perry.
posted by maryr at 10:22 AM on September 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

Elmo has been on Sesame Street for 30 years - that's before I was born. It's not that I don't understand him. I just don't like him.
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 10:27 AM on September 23, 2010 [4 favorites]

ericb: "This video was brought to you by the letter C-cup.*"

And that is why this is causing a kerfuffle. Boobs.
posted by NiteMayr at 10:28 AM on September 23, 2010

People are too god damn sensitive these days. I find it really troubling.

However, I did have a problem with that song. I can't image how I would've turned out if I was subjected to so much dreadful auto-tuning as a child. It probably would've turned me off music and art completely.
posted by i_have_a_computer at 10:33 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

Wait, she's from Goleta? As in UCSB-student-disease-pit Goleta?

Yup. There was a whole kerfluffle in the media the other day about how she came back to Dos Pueblos High to do a show and called out a former classmate in the audience and taunted him or something or other for not paying attention to her when they were in high school.
posted by blucevalo at 10:37 AM on September 23, 2010

So as a parent, I can say it is definitely the dress that's the problem. Not to say it is an actual problem, but I can absolutely see concern.

Here in America, we collectively do an excellent job of using sex and violence to sell products, but we don't want our kids to adopt those same practices that our media idolizes. That puts parents in a frustrating position, where we have to spend a lot of time explaining the nuances of interaction underneath this pervasive set of images; for violence, it's fairly easy ("don't hit people, don't pretend you're shooting people") but with sexuality it's much more difficult because sexuality is a normal part of human development that shouldn't be actively discouraged.

One of the few tools we have in the kit, then, is the line between "children's" entertainment and "adult" entertainment. I can say to my five-year-old daughter "that's not for kids, it's for when you're older" and thus defer inappropriate (for a five-year-old) behavior until an age when it's more appropriate. When Katy Perry shows up on Sesame Street in a very short/low cut dress, I lose that tool -- I can't say this isn't for kids, because it's Elmo, and so obviously it is.

As I mentioned before, this isn't a real problem -- at least not for me -- because my daughter is only five, and there's nothing sexual about a five-year-old's body. She can wear dresses like Katy Perry and run around looking surprised and mouthing the words to pop songs all she wants. For a parent whose policy is "sex is taboo", however, I can absolutely see how they'd be annoyed at having that line crossed/that tool removed from their toolkit.

Of course, you can argue about whether sex should be taboo or not for that age group -- death can be similarly argued, as can use of the proper words for penises and vulvas and such -- and some parents are going to fall on either side of that line. The position of Sesame Street, however, isn't one where arguing that point is going to be a viable choice. They should err on the side of teaching the largest number of kids possible, and if the choice is to take a side or take extra care, taking extra care seems like a no-brainer. Sesame Street should be safe, even if safe frustrates or annoys me as a parent who doesn't buy into the supposed harm caused by her outfit.

If I could have it my way, she'd come back to record it again, with these changes: acoustic guitar instead of polished pop arrangement, actual singing, and a less button-pushing outfit.
posted by davejay at 10:37 AM on September 23, 2010 [7 favorites]

delmoi: “I guess the problem was the shot of her legs?”

Exactly. And good thing this was pulled, too. We must protect our young children from the dangerous and subversive notion that women have legs. I lament the sad turn our world has taken when people don't seem to recognize this basic principle of childrearing; the happier times of my own childhood are now all but unrecoverable. It wasn't until I was nearly twenty-one and about to depart for college that my parents shattered my innocent illusion that from the waist down female human beings are all mechanized gears, integrated circuits and anti-gravity levitation units. But in these troubled times, we have the gall to be surprised when our children turn to crime, to drugs and to all sorts of mayhem, when we are the ones who nonchalantly thrust upon them the cruel reality that, rather than floating across the floor via a complex system of advanced circuit-driven gyroscopic-correcting hardware housed in machined steel, women walk on legs.

We don't even let our children be children anymore!
posted by koeselitz at 10:43 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

also I miss Grover and have always preferred him over Elmo, in part because Elmo sounds like a toddler with emphysema
posted by davejay at 10:43 AM on September 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

I was going to say they jumped the shark when Snuffleupagus was revealed to the adults but that was about a year after Elmo started with his bullshit.

I would say it un-jumped the shark when Snuffy was revealed to the adults, at least in terms of how he was presented. It never occurred to me that the idea of the adults never seeing him would be a bad thing until I read the explanation for why they stopped: They felt it was a bad idea that adults didn't believe Big Bird when he was telling the truth, and didn't want children to get the wrong idea from that, in light of a lot of stories of child molestation making the news.

As soon as I read that, I thought, "Hm. Wow. Good point."
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 10:53 AM on September 23, 2010 [6 favorites]

Of course, you can argue about whether sex should be taboo or not for that age group -- death can be similarly argued, as can use of the proper words for penises and vulvas and such -- and some parents are going to fall on either side of that line. The position of Sesame Street, however, isn't one where arguing that point is going to be a viable choice. They should err on the side of teaching the largest number of kids possible, and if the choice is to take a side or take extra care, taking extra care seems like a no-brainer. Sesame Street should be safe, even if safe frustrates or annoys me as a parent who doesn't buy into the supposed harm caused by her outfit.

This put things in a different perspective for me as a parent. Thank you for saying it.

If I could have it my way, she'd come back to record it again, with these changes: acoustic guitar instead of polished pop arrangement, actual singing, and a less button-pushing outfit.

It wouldn't sound like her song then, though. Sesame Street's celebrity singers keep as close to their original songs as possible so they remain recognizable. So REM's Furry Happy Monsters and Feist's 1,2,3,4 sound like their originals on purpose.

It's still better than Yo Gabba Gabba.
posted by zarq at 10:53 AM on September 23, 2010

You know what brings sexualized imagery to the attention of kids too young to otherwise notice? Adults freaking out about it.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 10:53 AM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

We don't even let our children be children anymore!

It's hard to find a happy medium between infantilizing your kids and showing them the truth about the world they live in.
posted by zarq at 10:57 AM on September 23, 2010

Elmo has been on Sesame Street for 30 years - that's before I was born. It's not that I don't understand him. I just don't like him.

Certainly he's been a prominent character for a shorter period than that, correct? I watched Sesame Street obsessively as a child during the 80s and I was not aware of Elmo until I was an adult.
posted by brundlefly at 10:57 AM on September 23, 2010

Speaking of Muppets and ass-less chaps immediately brought to mind this episode of Muppets Tonight.
posted by MrBobaFett at 11:04 AM on September 23, 2010

They felt it was a bad idea that adults didn't believe Big Bird when he was telling the truth, and didn't want children to get the wrong idea from that...

I think you could just end the sentence there and I'm on board with the Snuffleupagus changes without having to make it about fears of child abuse.
posted by straight at 11:23 AM on September 23, 2010

Certainly he's been a prominent character for a shorter period than that, correct? I watched Sesame Street obsessively as a child during the 80s and I was not aware of Elmo until I was an adult.

I pre-date Elmo. He wasn't prominent until Kevin Clash picked him up in the mid- to late-80's.
posted by zarq at 11:24 AM on September 23, 2010

I think you could just end the sentence there and I'm on board with the Snuffleupagus changes without having to make it about fears of child abuse.

There's a reason kids not being taken seriously by adults is a trope: it's an everyday, if not continual, experience. It would be nice if friendly media could commiserate without it becoming something to panic about.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 11:32 AM on September 23, 2010

I figured the objection was not "hey those are boobs how dare you", but rather, that little girls are very impressionable and when they see someone they idolize wearing a rather revealing dress, they will also want to wear such clothes. This was the complaint during the height of Britney Spears' fame when girls were obsessed with her. However, the audience for Sesame Street is more like preschool age and hasn't gotten to the "I want to wear hot clothes like Britney" stage yet.
posted by naju at 11:34 AM on September 23, 2010

Speaking of Sesame Street and breastfeeding, they were pretty cutting edge on the topic back in the day.

Where "cutting edge" = "basic human survival technique dating back to when we evolved into mammals"
posted by Rarebit Fiend at 11:45 AM on September 23, 2010

Well Katie Perry is no Alice Cooper
posted by stormpooper at 11:55 AM on September 23, 2010

To add to my previous comment, I think there's a tendency/temptation for parents to deny the existing unpleasant aspects of childhood in favour of their own rose-coloured recollections, and denying that parents fail to take children seriously is one manifestation of this. It's a real part of childhood experience that parents would love to gloss over, and well, I guess they have.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 12:08 PM on September 23, 2010

GhostintheMachine: "And switching tangents, would people please stop it with the "Elmo killed the magic" line? It's not your Sesame Street anymore, because your childhood is gone. The world has managed to move on and be a little different now."

I think that Sesame Street has changed in a pretty big qualitative way, but it doesn't have to do with the content so much as the audience that it's targeted to. My understanding is that it was originally intended primarily as a show for inner-city children. Other kids' media took place in mystical lands, big idealized houses, or in the country. Characters in Sesame Street live in apartments, and the primary place where they interact with each other is on the street.

I was born in 1981, so I don't have the experience of the "original" Sesame Street. But even in the 80s, it was obvious to me that Sesame Street was a show about the experience of being a little kid in a big city. The real-world segments all took place in urban playgrounds and the like. I loved Sesame Street, but I recognized that the experience it depicted was significantly different from my small-town life. It was much more like the life of the kids I see in my inner-city neighborhood today.

From what I can tell, that focus has profoundly shifted. I suppose the characters still live on Sesame Street, but that doesn't seem to be where they spend the bulk of their time anymore; now they seem to spend most of their time in fantastic landscapes. Yes, those landscapes are CGI, but the CGI isn't the important thing. The important thing is that they don't look like the Tenderloin anymore.

And for people who don't like this change (we could argue about whether it's actually a positive change), it's easy to pin a lot of blame on Elmo. The "Elmo's World" segments that seem to occupy an inordinately large chunk of the hour take place in a big, colorful house full of toys.
posted by roll truck roll at 12:09 PM on September 23, 2010 [14 favorites]

Certainly he's been a prominent character for a shorter period than that, correct? I watched Sesame Street obsessively as a child during the 80s and I was not aware of Elmo until I was an adult.

Elmo was certainly prominent when I was little in the early to mid 90s - the Tickle Me doll came out before I started going to school. Honestly, I hardly know anybody who ever liked the bastard. It's not like Barney, who was just so uncool to enjoy that everybody fell in line. This is probably the most primitive and honest dislike I have. As a child I wouldn't have cared what expert children's TV producers and other little children thought about Elmo any more than I care now what expert regular TV producers and other people my age think about, well, anything.
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 12:12 PM on September 23, 2010

My nephew and niece play with Barbies, and often without any clothes on at all. Totally naked. Boobs and all. Not even suggestive... I mean... look at 'em... naked!
posted by yeti at 12:23 PM on September 23, 2010

Elmo is perfectly appropriate, developmentally. Doesn't mean I, as an adult who grew up with Sesame Street and wishes what was on now was more old-school, can't not like the character. I can't stand that the last 15-20 minutes of every episode is Elmo-centered, meaning less of some of the classic characters and segments. And my kids just plain old don't like Elmo.

Give us more Big Bird, Cookie Monster, and Grover!
posted by Lulu's Pink Converse at 12:24 PM on September 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

My daughter plays with an Ariel The Little Mermaid doll quite a lot, and frequently talks about her "booby holder".
posted by Artw at 12:24 PM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

roll truck roll, you're absolutely right. Wikipedia says:

As researcher Gerald S. Lesser, CTW's first advisory board chairman, reported, the focus on the new show was on children from disadvantaged backgrounds, but the show's creators recognized that in order to achieve the kind of success they wanted, they needed to encourage all children, no matter what their background, to watch it. At the same time, however, their primary goal was to make the show appealing to inner-city children, a group that did not traditionally watch educational programs on public television,[22] so it would help them learn as much as children with more educational opportunities.[23] As Lesser stated, "If the series did not work for poor children, the entire project would fail".[24] Morrow called the new show's audience "concentric", with its targeted audience "the urban poor", within the larger circle of all preschoolers.[25] As a result, the CTW organized an outreach to inner-city communities, which as Lesser stated, "would demand at least as much ingenuity as production and research".[26]

Quite apart from the fact that I simply never liked Elmo, what makes his new importance so galling is that it seems representative of a change in the spirit of the show, which directs increasingly more of its energy and attention to precisely the families who don't need it as much, even if they are paying for it in the form of toys and DVDs and so on. I don't doubt that the people who make the show still care about those inner city children, but people who take issue with the new directions the show has taken over the years are really coming from somewhere.
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 12:28 PM on September 23, 2010 [10 favorites]

Sesame Street was probably the starting point for my lifelong love of New York City.
posted by Artw at 12:30 PM on September 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

Okay, I watched both the original and the Elmo version.

When a rock star has more cover on her boobage in her video than on a kid's show.....yeah, not an appropriate outfit for her to wear with Elmo. There's a time and a place for everything.

I breastfed in front of my older children, and I don't think they were scarred for life. But that's a different context. I don't think it is necessary for someone to dress that sexy to be on a CHILDREN'S program.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 12:39 PM on September 23, 2010

Quite apart from the fact that I simply never liked Elmo, what makes his new importance so galling is that it seems representative of a change in the spirit of the show, which directs increasingly more of its energy and attention to precisely the families who don't need it as much, even if they are paying for it in the form of toys and DVDs and so on. I don't doubt that the people who make the show still care about those inner city children, but people who take issue with the new directions the show has taken over the years are really coming from somewhere.

In all seriousness, how does the new direction the show has taken disenfranchise either inner city families or the poor? Are the characters and their situations really less easy for people living in the inner city to relate to? Do they teach fewer lessons? The show is still filmed in New York City, after all. There are still a large number of segments that are not CGI, filmed on set, or in parks, streets or at various locations here, such as area schools.

I have my own objections to the way the show has changed. In particular I object to its more frenetic pace, heavy use of CGI and the way it seems to have minimalized human interactions. It bugs the hell out of me that the show has eschewed the shorter segments that made it so charming, educational and kept the interest of those with child-sized attention spans. My kids get bored watching the new version. We usually just put on a circa 2005 episode from OnDemand, which maintained at least some of the older format.

I'm not sure the show is directing its energy towards families who need it less. Useless fantasy CGʼI segments aside, I think it's portraying a wider world beyond the borders of just that one street, which is not a bad thing.
posted by zarq at 12:45 PM on September 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

But even in the 80s, it was obvious to me that Sesame Street was a show about the experience of being a little kid in a big city.

I grew up in suburbia, and I always thought Sesame Street took place in some kind of imaginary squeezed-together town, where all the stuff was on one street instead of spread out around the whole town like it is in the real world. I think I was actually quite old before I realized it was supposed to be a realistic depiction of city life.

So... I guess I'd say maybe it doesn't make very much difference whether the landscapes are realistic or imaginary, because kids just make things fit however they need to.
posted by rusty at 12:45 PM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

They felt it was a bad idea that adults didn't believe Big Bird when he was telling the truth, and didn't want children to get the wrong idea from that, in light of a lot of stories of child molestation making the news

They didn't believe him because the proof kept conveniently vanishing into thin air every time the adults showed up. I think most children got it just fine. And it was a good message. An old message (see also: boy crying wolf). A positive message: truth requires personally verifiable proof. The absence of proof equals disbelief. This is the heart of skepticism. Our nation's children could use a lot more of this and a lot less pandering to parents' mania-du-jour.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 12:51 PM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

I think Katy Perry is absolutely in her element on Sesame Street.
posted by mazola at 1:16 PM on September 23, 2010

Our nation's children could use a lot more of this and a lot less pandering to parents' mania-du-jour.

I think maybe you are conflating the lesson they wanted to impart and the lesson they should have imparted. From what I've seen of the creators' statements, they basically didn't want kids to be afraid of speaking up for fear of not being believed. It's not that they wanted kids to be believed without any kind of evidence but that they wanted kids not to be afraid of not being believed. I think that's a worthwhile value to convey to little people who don't get to set the rules of the world they live in and can be very at sea sometimes as a result.
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 1:25 PM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

The suggestive part is presumably that she's wearing a high hemmed, low-cut dress. For comparison see how Destiny's Child presented themselves for the audience.

I think kids get to see enough of the heavily manufactured/marketed pop-stars that it's refreshing to see them in regular street clothes.

See? The 'stars' are people too.

That doesn't make me a prude.
posted by mazola at 1:55 PM on September 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

This is ridiculous. I think Katy Perry looked cute! And her outfit isn't any more revealing than this one India Arie is wearing for her Sesame Street segment (and she looks lovely, too).
posted by misha at 1:59 PM on September 23, 2010

Herbie Hancock: celebrity | Sesame Street.

I thought Katy Perry looked cute too and don't have a real problem with it. I do think it is a missed opportunity for stripping away the fakery of celebrity and showing artists as regular people.
posted by mazola at 2:05 PM on September 23, 2010

Can someone actually quote something that says that Perry picked out the outfit herself? I see people assigning a lot of agency to her (not the show's costuming dept, not her agent) for what she wore.

The whole thing is dumb anyway - you'd have to be a prude to find that outfit racey.
posted by codacorolla at 2:09 PM on September 23, 2010

Katy Perry's outfit is absolutely more revealing than India Arie's.
posted by maryr at 2:25 PM on September 23, 2010

There are many women wearing more revealing outfits at your local mall. Unless your kid is kept sequestered away for fear of seeing skin (in which case you probably only show them Approved Christian Videos), there's nothing new here.
posted by wildcrdj at 2:40 PM on September 23, 2010

Finally got to watch the video. What a mess! Terrible outfit for a children's show, terrible lip-synching, terrible mix of the song. Keep it off TV, why not. It's still on YouTube, which is practically the same thing.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:24 PM on September 23, 2010

Elmo is awesome when he's hanging out with Ricky Gervais. Lullaby. Interview. Ricky's office.

"Hot N Cold" is a pretty great song.

I miss Herbert Birdsfoot.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 3:29 PM on September 23, 2010

I'm still vastly more concerned about Cookie Monster branching out to leafy greens.

What, he gets high now? That makes sense.
posted by krinklyfig at 3:46 PM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

Once when I was a boy, Father Beese brought home a copy of Playboy that someone had left in his office. I flipped through it and, seeing no advertisements for toys in it, disinterestedly put it back.

I don't recall ever not being interested in what was going on in Playboy, in a general sense. I hear this from other people about their childhood. Guess I developed early.
posted by krinklyfig at 3:50 PM on September 23, 2010

If the argument has rescinded to "she was only wearing clothing that created the illusion of nudity," then the argument has duly been lost.

Yeah, it's really obvious in maryr's linked photo that Katy is wearing a skin coloured body suit.

That's worse to me. It's not about an innocent dress that people are overreacting to. It's about the producers finding a loophole to make sure they can show (fake) cleavage on Sesame Street. What's the point other than trying to stir controversy?
posted by Gary at 3:57 PM on September 23, 2010

Once when I was a boy, Father Beese brought home a copy of Playboy that someone had left in his office. I flipped through it and, seeing no advertisements for toys in it, disinterestedly put it back.

I remember being young, and in a bookstore with my father. While he looked for what he wanted, I wandered over to a rack of magazines, and pulled one out to look at it. It stuck in my head because my father came over and said "don't look at that!" and put it back for me, and I didn't understand what the problem was.

Of course, I was very much prepubescent, and what I saw was a girl wearing suspenders without a top, and when he took it away from me I was trying to figure out how to pronounce the word "Oui".
posted by davejay at 3:59 PM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

You take your kids to the mall?

Wait, you go to the mall?

Wait, you mall?

You mall?

Mall?
posted by davejay at 4:20 PM on September 23, 2010 [3 favorites]

I for one am still completely shaken by the sight of Elmo's legs.
posted by Ron Thanagar at 4:49 PM on September 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

also I miss Grover

Oh my God! Grover died? Was there an episode where they had to explain his death to Big Bird?

Srsly. NO GROVER?
posted by angrycat at 4:51 PM on September 23, 2010 [2 favorites]

Grover's still around. Hit play and he can read a book to you.
posted by Gary at 5:01 PM on September 23, 2010

Late to the thread, but one thing I think worth noting is that almost all of Sesame Street's celeb appearances are meant for the parents watching, not the kids. A few commenters here were right in noting that kids wouldn't even know who Katy Perry is. So the sexy outfit is, well, kind of fitting, because it would help adults identify her as . . . her. Anyway, playing to their dual audiences has always been a primary goal of Sesame Street, even if I suspect they lost sight of it in recent years, because, damn, is most of Elmo's World unwatchable to an adult viewer.

Also, her outfit kinda reminds me of this.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 5:33 PM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

Are the characters and their situations really less easy for people living in the inner city to relate to?

I just think that the original Sesame Street did a much better job of creating a space where these children didn't have to do as much of the ceaseless work of learning, understanding and adapting the messages of a mainstream culture that they did not belong to and that did not acknowledge their existence, let alone their potential. People dismiss television, but to identify, for once, with its images is incredibly powerful - and to not identify with them, yet again, incredibly alienating. I'm not saying that Sesame Street was ever a gritty, realistic depiction of inner city life, but just looking out into the world inside the TV and knowing that it sees you too, and the world that you inhabit, and that it thinks you are worth talking to and talking about, is a relief and a beautiful thing for children, especially, to have. I really respect (love, even) the people who make Sesame Street happen and I think they are doing good, important work. I just think they are slipping a bit on something that really matters.
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 6:20 PM on September 23, 2010 [5 favorites]

I'm gonna post Superstition because one can never post it enough.
posted by empath at 6:38 PM on September 23, 2010 [8 favorites]

I really enjoyed Oscar's editorial comment like half-way through the song.
posted by angrycat at 6:53 PM on September 23, 2010

i am sad that sesame street is no longer puppets having conversations while leaning on fake brick walls, or super-speed film of how crayons are made at the crayon factory. that is something to be upset about, i think. i can't even muster the energy to get worked up about katy perry.
posted by janepanic at 7:44 PM on September 23, 2010 [3 favorites]

Um ... that would be Mr. Rogers at the crayon factory [video], not Sesame Street.
posted by ericb at 8:35 PM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

But, indeed, there is a Sesame Street video - How Crayons Are Made
posted by ericb at 8:38 PM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

The crayon video is still run in some of the newer episodes. The show recycles a lot of their older segments.
posted by zarq at 8:42 PM on September 23, 2010

What the hell are crayons?
posted by mazola at 8:56 PM on September 23, 2010

Man, when I was a kid growing up in Boganville, Australia, Sesame Street DID take place in a magical fantasy world as far as I was concerned. A real city! With apartments and everything! And characters who were literate and interested in new things! Pretty much the opposite of real life.
posted by No-sword at 9:23 PM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

If I object to the use of a song whose original lyrics are pretty sexist and worse yet, stupid, does this mean I can still qualify as some NorAm Taliban*? Regardless, I'll stick with sweetly wry and sensibly-sweatered Norah Jones, thanks.

Grover and Telly pretty much covered my emotional spectrum as a child.

*I've got some decent beard going on here, if that helps.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:24 PM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

ericb: "But, indeed, there is a Sesame Street video - How Crayons Are Made "

Oh man, that video brings back memories. I remember thinking - and I still think now - that there were at least one or two steps missing at 0:47.
posted by roll truck roll at 11:50 PM on September 23, 2010

What in the world is wrong with people? Children don't care about bouncing boobs.
posted by wv kay in ga at 11:58 PM on September 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

So I played the clip on YouTube. Now my 1.5 and 3.5 year old won't watch anything else.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 2:09 AM on September 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

What?!

I didn't read the entire thread. I really was expecting to find Ms. Perry a candidate for breast reduction surgery. I found no such thing. The costume seemed a little strange, but, meh. I must say, I quite liked what the song had to say, actually. (I've chased a guy or two that was sending confusing signals)
posted by Goofyy at 5:12 AM on September 24, 2010

Via danklass on Twitter: Sesame Street pulls Katie Perry segment after complaints about her outfit. Sorry, guys, KP isn't sexual to a 3 year old. And Elmo is naked.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 6:39 AM on September 24, 2010

shakespeherian: It's a show about a neighborhood in New York! There are traffic sounds in the background! It seems like people live there! And also, sometimes, there are giant birds and a creepy imaginary mammoth thing!

Yeah. Those were the days. Sitting in front of the boob tube and droning out in front of "Sesame Street" with my schoolmates and imagining that that was what a big city actually was like, dirt, garbage pails, traffic noise, untidiness, and all. Maybe even some fake graffiti if memory serves. And the cats on "Electric Company" were wearing dashikis and all kinds of weird 1970s shit, and they were copping some major bad-ass attitude. That was captivating stuff, Rita Moreno screaming at the top of her lungs, Morgan Freeman looking mean and sneaky, before he was God and the intoning deadened voiceover for insurance company shills.

Now it's all one prefab "Let's make everything as antiseptic and whitewashed as possible, just like we do in our homes!" u/dystopia.
posted by blucevalo at 8:01 AM on September 24, 2010 [2 favorites]

I dunno you guys, I think kids would look at her outfit and just think "princess dress".
posted by Fleebnork at 8:25 AM on September 24, 2010 [2 favorites]

What the hell are crayons?

Washable crayons are pretty much the best invention ever.
posted by zarq at 9:42 AM on September 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

There are many women wearing more revealing outfits at your local mall.

It's crazy. Some of them are even old enough to drive.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 10:28 AM on September 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

hippybear: “Elmo and Grover appear on Good Morning America to talk about Katy Perry.”

That is awesome:

from link: “Grover, wearing a helmet and cape, made light of the situation, asking, ‘How do you like my new outfit? It's not too revealing, is it?’”

All of our kvetching here about Sesame Street going off the rails aside – the people in charge over there still have perspective about the whole thing, I think. Good for them.
posted by koeselitz at 10:42 AM on September 24, 2010 [3 favorites]

I thought it was because Elmo is black.
posted by Smedleyman at 10:45 AM on September 24, 2010

Elmo and Grover appear on Good Morning America to talk about Katy Perry.

"Elmo loves to name drop."
posted by zarq at 2:38 PM on September 24, 2010

Probably no one is reading this thread anymore, but I saw a clip of the video again and it turns out she's not wearing a low-cut dress at all, but rather the top of her dress is skin-toned and actually has short sleeves.

You can see it clearly in this picture
posted by delmoi at 3:46 PM on September 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

So, now Elmo has managed to infiltrate Youtube. He probably heard everything we said about him out on the Street, and now he's just fucking with us.
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 4:03 PM on September 24, 2010

I don't think it is necessary for someone to dress that sexy to be on a CHILDREN'S program.

I wasn't convinced, but then you went and CAPITALIZED THE CHILDREN.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 4:23 PM on September 24, 2010 [4 favorites]

... it turns out she's not wearing a low-cut dress at all, but rather the top of her dress is skin-toned and actually has short sleeves.

As per the mention above.
posted by ericb at 4:32 PM on September 24, 2010

The top of the dress is sheer. The skin tone you see is her skin.

That makes a lot more sense, and doesn't have the same creepy vibe of them using a super tight skin tone shirt.
posted by Gary at 9:37 PM on September 24, 2010

Katy Perry flaunting her talents in an elmo shirt on the season premiere of SNL.
posted by dgaicun at 2:06 AM on September 27, 2010

I'm convinced that this brouhaha was a deliberately manufactured publicity stunt by PBS, Sesame Street and Katy Perry. I don't think they ever intended to air the segment. After all they posted it on YouTube just days before Sesame Street's season premiere on September 27 -- that's TOADY!

This past week/weekend has seen significant coordinated coverage/profiles of her in all sorts of media: Saturday Night Live, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, CBS Sunday Morning and now her announced appearance in an upcoming episode of The Simpsons, etc.

After all, she's been out promoting her recently released album/CD: Teenage Dream.

Call me jaded. I'm jaded.
posted by ericb at 2:30 PM on September 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

*TODAY*
posted by ericb at 2:31 PM on September 27, 2010

When Attacked, Elmo Fights Back.
posted by ericb at 1:54 PM on September 28, 2010

Well, its not today any more, as of this posting its now yesterday (and when someone reads this in the future who knows?).

But it's still TOADY!
posted by Reverend John at 2:02 PM on September 28, 2010