Sesame Street (SA) to have new HIV+ character

sceptre

Interesting development in kiddie TV, in case you haven't heard.

South Africa's Sesame Street is to get a new HIV positive muppet (as in "puppet", not as in "idiot")

5 yo supposedly, which at least means she'll be able to bully 3yo Elmo.

Story Link

And a nice pic of the current cast of furballs


I'll be interested to hear how they remind the kids every once in a while how the poor muppet is HIV+. Anyone who remembers Mr Hooper dying on the show may remember kind of forgetting about the guy after a few weeks. So they can bring it up regularly or have kids just forget about it (which defeats the point of having the character on)

Not a bad development in a country where 9% of the population is HIV+. Understanding being a good thing and all that.

Still no sign of a gay character though. Unless you count Ernie and his grumpy friend. Grover might be a better choice should they take the plunge (bit of a stereotype though, with his flailing arms and interest in colours)

Maybe sometime over the course of the next season the other muppets will realise that muppets can't be HIV+ due to a lack of sexual organs, blood, or well, much else.

Winters

"Its not quite a mop its not quite a puppet but damn ....."

Why not use the guy who lives in a bin? Or the small little annoying red one... elmo? They could write a hugh 3 part episode where they get HIV by not using protection... its a lot better then bringing in a new character.

Pigman

Good call! After all Oscar the grouch could have picked up HIV from accidentally sitting one of the multitude of dirty syringes that get thrown into his 'home' on a daily basis.

pauldeehan

Hear that? It's the sound of childhood innocence being brutally slaughtered. I guess it's one of those prevention things to try lower the 9% figure.

daveJAM

Nah I heard they won't be mentioning sex at all. It'll be more like "**** I cut my finger!"

sceptre

Naw, she's an orphan. Her mother just died (presumably of AIDS) and she'll be moving in with a Street family.

ykt0di9url7bc3

there is a tribal legend in south africa that if you have AIDs, one way to get rid of it is to rape a virgin girl..........

****ing animals



the sooner that people start copping on the sooner we get a handle on this epidemic.....the fact that we are responsible for the continuation of this epidemic proves that einstien was right...(human stupidity is infinte)...(my family has a history of Muscular dystrophy, youre damn right if i'm going to careful not to give my kids a death sentence..)


if we had sesame streat in the 1900s i hope they would have had a sick cholera kid and tell people to get some sanitation.....

i'm sorry if i'm bit pissed at this subject

Shinji

Hear that? It's the sound of childhood innocence being brutally slaughtered.

There's an important difference between innocence and ignorance which most people in the western world are far too stupid to appreciate.

Jim

" Can u feel the political correctness ozzing??"

CHRISTYG

Is this just on the South African variant, or are there any plans to inflict this on the CTW original (not that anyone this side of the Atlantic sees it anyway. I remember it being on UTV every Saturday morning at 11.00, before "World of Sport"


P.S. OT- Was there ever an Irish version (e.g. made in Ireland, in English?)

sceptre

It's all in the link. At the moment there are no plans for the US CTW to introduce a new character but they're seriously considering it. I suppose they'll wait to see how it goes in South Africa.

Harder to get rid of a character if it doesn't work out than introduce an new one (though they've managed to get rid of characters like Don Music (kids started imitating him by banging their heads off pianos), Roosevelt Franklin (African-American stereotype), Harvey Kneeslapper (it was hurting Frank Oz' throat to do the laugh) & Kermit (only appeared once since Henson's death 12 years ago) - shame, I always knew he was wearing nothing under that coat:D).

Dunno about the use of the word "inflict" - I'd class it as a good thing. AIDS is a real issue, especially to kids in South Africa. Sesame Street has had a history of having a connectino with children and tackling the odd proper issue - like Big Bird's reaction to the death of Mr Hooper.

It's not the same as debating briging in, say, a gay character - which would unnecessarily bring in the issue of sexuality to young children. Most children in South Africa know someone who is HIV+ - someone in their class, neighbourhood, one of their friends. It's not unimportant that they become aware of the issues and risks, as well as understanding that it's not a declaration from a deity that people are evil, that it's not a "Gay Plague" or a "Black Plague" and that children become more aware of the disease in at least a semi-informed way from an early age. It's not a back-door method to inflict a sexual agenda on children.

The initial post was just meant as an interesting TV-related FYI btw. Might be better off in Humanities the way the discussion is going.

(edit)
OT: CHRISTYG - I'm pretty sure there was never an Irish made version (or an English made version afaik). Sesame Street was my "must see show" as a child (and later). Put up with the crap musical montages in exchange for watching the cartoons (hehe, the typewriter) and the puppets. Watching it on RTE (Saturdays) and more lately on C4 (very early mornings) I'm pretty sure I'd remember. Most of the international versions just replace segments rather than do an entirely different show (like in NZ, where Maori segments replace the Hispanic ones). Canada has had a totally different show for the past 20 years.