LITTLE ROCK — Remember the theme to Sesame Street?
“Come and play/Everything’s A-OK/Friendly neighbors there/ That’s where we meet/Can you tell me how to get/How to get to Sesame Street?”
Yeah, well everything is not so A-OK there these days.
Lately Sesame Street, which celebrated its 43rd birthday last weekend, has been looking a lot more like the Boulevard of Broken Dreams.
It all began last month when presidential candidate Mitt Romney called out Big Bird (yeah, he went after the cheerful, chirpy yellow fellow who still sleeps with a teddy bear - not even grumpy green Oscar the Grouch!) during a debate with President Barack Obama and threatened to cut taxpayer funding of PBS.
“I like PBS, I actually love Big Bird ... but I’m not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for it,” Romney said.
It looked like Big Bird might have to lose insurance, give up health tweetments and go on bird seed stamps.
At least Big Bird did enjoy a show of public support.
Of course some people showed, uh, too much.
Skimpy, see-through unlicensed Halloween costumes for women with thigh-high striped orange stockings -and not nearly enough plumage - hit the market. Sesame Workshop found them to be for the birds, cried “fowl” and sent cease-and-desist letters.
The same month, feathers were ruffled at Hasbro - maker of Sesame Street toys - when third-quarter earnings showed decreased sales of Sesame Street products had deflated the company’s preschool toy sales by 5 percent to $206 million.
With plenty of controversy brewing over Sesame Street, there was also weather brewing. In the wake of Hurricane Sandy last week, the puppets survived a storm (in a tweaked episode that first aired in 2001 and then in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina), and poor, embattled Big Bird had to put his nest back together again with the help of his pals.
Speaking of Big Bird’s pals, they’ve had their pains too.
Last week it was announced there was trouble with Elmo - or at least his puppeteer of 27 years, Kevin Clash.
Sesame Workshop issued a statement Monday saying a 23-year-old claimed 52-year-old Clash had a relationship with him seven years prior (when he was 16).
If that’s true: Stranger danger! Bad touch!
“[Clash] insists that the allegation of underage conduct is false and defamatory and he is taking actions to protect his reputation,” Sesame Workshop said. “We have granted him a leave of absence to do so.”
Not taking a leave of absence: Elmo. The statement continued: “Elmo is bigger than any one person and will continue to be an integral part of Sesame Street to engage, educate and inspire children around the world, as it has for 40 years.”
We’ll close by returning to those Sesame Street lyrics and we’ll hope the roadway once again enjoys a time that resembles the opening line: “Sunny Day/Sweeping the clouds away.” This column is brought to you by the letter E for e-mail:
Spin Cycle is a weekly smirk at pop culture and a weekly segment on Little Rock’s KURB-FM, B98.5 at 7 a.m. Thursdays. Listen live and hear podcasts at b98.com.
Style, Pages 53 on 11/18/2012