Meet Sesame Street’s New Character About Childhood Hunger
- Posted on October 5, 2011 at 4:34pm by
Madeleine Morgenstern
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Image via YouTube
As The Blaze first told you Tuesday, there’s a new muppet coming to Sesame Street. But unlike the cheerful singing-and-dancing brood who usually hold court on the PBS show, she has a sadder tale to tell: She’s meant to represent one of the many U.S. children who go to bed at night hungry.
Media credit: Sesame Workshop
The children’s program will introduce “Lily” during a one-hour prime-time special Oct. 9 to raise awareness about hunger faced by American families who are “food insecure,” meaning their access to food is limited or uncertain.
In a New York Times interview, a top Sesame Workshop executive highlighted the care and planning that went into developing the new character:
“We thought long and hard about how do we really represent this from a child’s point of view?” Jeanette Betancourt, Sesame Workshop’s senior vice president for outreach and educational practices, said on Monday morning in a telephone interview. “We felt it was best to have this new Muppet take this on in a positive way and a healthy way.”
Ms. Betancourt said that she and her colleagues spent time considering all the elements of Lily’s character that would make her realistic but empathetic to young viewers: her style of dress, her voice performance and even mannerisms, like her tendency to look down at her feet rather than make eye contact when she is speaking to other characters.
“She wants to talk about this topic,” she said, “because she knows it will help many other families and children, but it isn’t an easy topic to talk about in the first place.”
Also participating in the special are country music singer Brad Paisley and his wife, actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley. They praised the show in a joint statement:
“Food insecurity is a growing and difficult issue for adults to discuss, much less children,” they said. “We hope that it will not only provide families with the tools they need to help them cope and live the healthiest life possible, but will educate the general population about the extent of food insecurity and hunger in the United States.”
Watch a clip from the upcoming special below, courtesy of PBS:
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Comments (99)
hogtrashhd
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 10:31pmoh for pete’s sake.. food insecure.. these people are peabrains.. i am sick of them changing words for this crap.. the kid’s parents use food money for drugs, cigarettes, alcohol, gambling and the rest of the crap.. very very very few children should be going hungry.. it’s just that the parent (usually one) sells the money on the ebt card and uses it for the above.. give me a break.. enough of this phony crocodile tears for these kids.. get the parent and throw them in jail and whip the shet out of them…make them have id to use their ebt cards.. that would stop some of it… STOP the fraud and you’ll see more kids with food in their stomachs
Report Post »HappyStretchedThin
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 11:46pmDr. Sowell debunks the poverty pimps: http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2011/10/05/the_hunger_hoax/page/full/
Report Post »PATTY HENRY
Posted on October 6, 2011 at 12:03amWANT THE REAL STORY ON “HUNGER” in AMERICA:
watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoohkS6iyhY&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Report Post »KickinBack
Posted on October 6, 2011 at 12:11amHoly crapola batman! The friggin‘ puppet can eat my shorts for cryin’ out loud!
Report Post »ohnomrbill
Posted on October 6, 2011 at 3:06amYou people are so cruel you would starve children Really you would. Life isn’t as simple as you people like to make it. Alot of the children who are hungry are children that are in the homes of the working poor do you know who they are, they are one pay check away from being homeless and no food to eat, shame on you not everyone gets food stamps and such, may the Karma of your words be less for you then you are to the lest among you.
Report Post »chazman
Posted on October 6, 2011 at 5:02am… they have Ms. Piggy … feed Ms. Piggy to ‘Lily.‘ Let’s see … umm, pork chops, Honey Baked Ham … grilled ham and cheese … ham hocks and let’s not forget, BACON! Yum, yum, yum! Oh, and then there’s KERMIT! Aww, nothing but frog legs, but they sure are good! There, no more hungry ‘Lily.’
Report Post »DNC TALIBAN
Posted on October 6, 2011 at 10:38amName the new muppet “Crack Whore”
Report Post »Secret Squirrel
Posted on October 6, 2011 at 11:08am.
Report Post »Maybe we should change the name from “Sesame Street”, to “Wall Street”.
KickinBack
Posted on October 6, 2011 at 12:19pm@ohnomrbill
We have the richest “poor” people in the world. Welfare is SLAVERY! And lets not forget, what the government can give to you, it can take away. Just wait until a real crisis hits, like when this president crashes our economy and everybody starves!
NOBAMA 2012
Report Post »upstatenyteabagger
Posted on October 6, 2011 at 6:05pmthis sounds like what my 84 year old friend told me about, when she was 3 her father forced her to go to marxist plays and they had this woman dressed in rags named maggie and they told the kids if you didn’t listen and follow them that they would end up like maggie and be put into a workhouse. Her father was apart of the ILP and labor party until she escaped and told the americans during ww2 info and they rescued her. The UK was under that labor party for 23 years until this year if you don’t think it will happen here well it already has people, its all around us. We already live in a socialist country just do your homework and you will see and now we are moving further into Marxism/Communism. May God help us all , God Bless America again please, Yes we CAIN
Report Post »Socialism_Is_The_New_Black
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 10:31pmGrowing “HOPE” against hunger? (9_9) So after performing for BHO a couple years ago and now this, I guess you country music fans now know which way Brad Paisley leans.
Report Post »CHRISBOLT123
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 10:20pmTHIS is why I dont give a DIME to PBS.
Report Post »Socialism_Is_The_New_Black
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 10:18pm@JZS Whatever! How many children are hungry due to poor family planning and not just because people lost there jobs? All the sex education and those who can’t afford to procreate do it anyway. I can‘t wait for the socialist politicians you so dearly love to institute compulsory abortions for those who can’t prove stable financial means to support the child. It’s coming in the future when they run out of entitlement money to load up the ebt cards for the lowlifes. It‘s coming when it’s just to costly to government healthcare. The lowlifes that supported the dems will get painted into a corner.
Report Post »SandyfromChesterfield
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 10:12pmHunger in the United States? I thought we were giving the kids breakfast, lunch and dinner at schools? Isn’t obama the food stamp president also?
Report Post »Socialism_Is_The_New_Black
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 10:24pmKids in the inner city have to show up to school to get the free food. What about the misguided utes that skip school?
Report Post »jb.kibs
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 11:31pmdid you just ask, what about the kids, who CHOOSE to skip school, even though they know, full well, that‘s where they have to eat because their parents aren’t feeding them? hmmm are you saying, we need to control the all the choices people are allowed to make? wouldn’t that be dicatorship and completely crush free will? they know the risks of not eating… i’m pretty sure all living beings know this…
Report Post »IMAWAKENOW
Posted on October 6, 2011 at 1:06amWe forgot about the bed time snacks. I have noticed a real weight problem in this country and it isn’t due to missing meals. As long as all you have to do is use a government issued debit card for fast food and pop, you can’t make me believe there is a hunger problem in this country. Time to take some responsibility for your actions and choices.
Report Post »Dougalug
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 10:10pmthanks to obama she`s hungry! it`s HIS economy!
Report Post »Socialism_Is_The_New_Black
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 10:08pmThis isn’t just about hunger. This is just one of the first building blocks used for brainwashing those into you-know-what!
Report Post »herekittykitty
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 10:03pmGreat post. I found myself having to rely on family when life unexpectedly pulled the rug out from under me (along with my home, car, job, finances, insurance) and I and my kids had to live with family. They made “food stamps” a condition of our being there in order to “contribute.” The govn’t makes it very easy by giving you a credit card deal to use at grocery stores, etc. Every month, poof, the card is filled with more money, no more questions asked. I despised it. And the humiliation made me work that much harder and faster to get back on my feet. This business of making it acceptable is CRAP. No, people shouldn’t be shamed, but it is not normal, it is not okay, and nobody should look at assistance as a lifestyle.
Report Post »ADNIL
Posted on October 6, 2011 at 2:35pmThey make it too easy now, and some people have no shame and even less ambition. It is far too acceptable to be on the dole.
Report Post »ZengaPA65
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 9:57pmThis is bull look how fat the dad is, easy 260 lbs. If his kids are starving it’s because he ate all the Twinkies.
Report Post »woemcat
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 9:54pmthat’s exactly what kids need—-more liberal slant. :0(
Report Post »petty1699
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 9:44pmFor all of you out there who didn‘t think there were any victims of Cookie Monster’s addictive cookie devoring behavior, I give you exhibit A.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 9:41pmThere are, in fact, some people in America who do not have food to eat.
I can poke fun at a character who is going to perpetually be hungry, but, hunger is not funny.
When we were a moral, God-fearing, God-loving society, we ALL would have pitched in to feed the hungry. Now, we have allowed the government to TAKE that responsibility from us. This is highly inefficient and creates a gratitude to a bureaucracy, rather than to one’s fellow man.
SICK AND TWISTED.
Report Post »Conservativeteen01
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 9:38pmI have no problem with local food pantrys collecting food and giving it to people who really need it, but it seems like this new character isn’t being put on mainly to encourage people to give to charities, more likely it seems that it will be promoting welfare programs like food stamps that our country doesn’t really need or have the money for right now.
Report Post »pamela kay
Posted on October 6, 2011 at 2:45amI do not think that welfare recipients should get food stamps. Why not open pantries where they can pick up or even have delivered the proper food that assures the family actually has food for the children. And Michelle Obama could make sure that it was healthy. As far as Sesame St. goes more propanganda, and further indoctrination of our children. Also it encourages people to get the benefits with no effort. There are allot of families that are not on assistance that don’t eat as well as some of the kids on welfare. The saddest thing to me is when the parents do not use the food stamps for their children and waste their checks and food stamps for themselves.
Report Post »MrMagoo
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 9:37pmWell,when the crap hits the fan,and another Great Depression is upon us,it would behoove all of us that can do so,to be ready and willing to help out our neighbors.Glenn Beck has really got me thinking about this for the last few months.It could get ugly or it could be enlightening.I just hope and pray that there are many,many more acts of kindness than there are of ugliness.I guess we’ll all find out just what kind of people we really are when it happens.
Report Post »We shouldn‘t need the government or cartoons to remind us to ’do the right thing’.Other than currently giving cash donations to charity and donating to the local food bank,there’s only so much a person can do.I don’t personally know of any families/kids in my daily contacts who are ‘food insecure’.No doubt there are some out there,and thats a real shame.I wonder what kind of parents they have.
herekittykitty
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 9:34pmMaybe if they gave the food more fertilizer it’s confidence would be bolstered. Can’t have insecure food, now can we?
A recent docudrama told about a family who “had” to use a food shelf. They had 3 kids, the mother didn’t work, the dad had a job, they owned a house, and a car. The food shelf just saved them on groceries so they could make the mortgage more easily (the mom’s words). What is wrong with people?
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 9:33pmMaybe they should have named her…
wait for it…
“Solyndra”
after all, there would be NO hunger in America OR in Africa if that money had been used to FEED PEOPLE, instead of funneling money to obama’s campaign.
Report Post »Standing With Israel
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 9:38pmPerfect!
Report Post »The-Monk
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 9:50pmIs that a “dread-locks” haircut? How about the “red skin”? Is that an American Indian from Africa? What are we to suppose from the hair type and skin color? That whites hate Negros and Indians? Did anyone take notice of the necklace? This is just promoting racial cr@p from the uber left. Way to go Obama and crew! Divide and conquer. We got your number Van Jones.
Report Post »rightwinglefty
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 9:31pm@Motonutt. It is both. The evil Republicans aided by The Tea Party and the richest 1% are conspiring to steal food away from the poor minorities and they are stuffing the food down the throats of their over privileged children.
Report Post »IMAWAKENOW
Posted on October 6, 2011 at 1:34am1% of the public have stolen food from the bottom 40%????? It is that 1% that FEED those people through their taxes. Sometimes I think people make those comments just to get a rise out of someone. YOU can’t be that stupid.
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 9:30pmThe term “food insecurity” is CLEARLY a intellectual-elitist/socialist label.
The rest of the world just refers to it as being “POOR” or the “HUNGRY.”
Hopefully, Sesame Street will show the Churches who volunteer time, and donate food, and cook hot meals, and feed the homeless and the hungry. Something tells me it’ll be more focused on government handouts and how it is okay to TAKE MONEY FROM OTHERS, and how IT BEARS NO STIGMA. – Which, 30 years ago, any poor or hungry person would have told you is utter nonsense. We KNEW it was not okay to take money from others, and that we must do EVERYTHING in our power to provide for ourselves. We knew that did not include cashing govt checks, and taking charity from others. I remember how embarrassing it was when we had to accept clothing. I also remember periods of unemployment where we were TOLD to sign up for food stamps, but, we refused, moved in with family, and MADE ends meet. It did NOT take a village. It took a FAMILY. It took HARD WORK. But most of all, it took PRAYER and FAITH.
These are the EXACT same values that taught us how IMPORTANT charity IS ! This is why we always dig as deep as possible to help others out of our own pockets. Because, we knew that people would never accept it if there were ANY alternative.
My how times have changed.
Report Post »SHOWMESTATEGUY
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 9:30pmThis is just the latest example of why we need to defund national public tv and radio. They are part of the propaganda arm of leftist radicals paid for by everyday Americans.
How did we ever let it get to this stage?
Report Post »Kiba
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 9:26pmWelcome to the U.S.A. where the so-called “poor” are to fat to get up and go to work somewhere. Its so much easier for our poor to just sit and watch cable while texting their friends about getting a new tattoo on their smart-phones.
Report Post »Kiba
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 9:23pmOMG! Im surprised her name isnt Connie Conservative..
Report Post »MT_Headed
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 9:19pm…Now we just need an obese tax… Put in scales at the grocery store and that outputs you BMI, and requires you to donate so many cans of food… then if you are skinny you can get a credit…
Report Post »godhatesacoward
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 9:22pmNice!!
Report Post »jzs
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 9:07pmThere are no children in America who go to bed hungry. ‘Nuff said!
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 9:31pmAre you being sarcastic, or are you COMPLETELY out of touch with reality?
Report Post »jzs
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 9:43pmSarcastic.
Report Post »valarie
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 8:57pmThis is utter B.S. The vast majority of welfare people are OBESE due to the ability to use their “EBT CARD” for KFC! What a bunch of bullspit! They have driven the decent “markets” who supply wholesome food out of the ghettos and they want pity? Nope.
Report Post »Puddle Duck
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 9:51pmExcellent point…..unintended consequences from overt Gov’t manipulation/regulation has bitten the eggheads in the backside, yet again. You‘d think they’d have learned that lesson by now (Liberals/progressives) but NOOOOooooooOOOOo …
Report Post »sisserydoo
Posted on October 6, 2011 at 12:15amLast month I made the mistake of going to Wal-mart on the 1st. There were four, perfectly healthy looking, able bodied young women. 20ish I’d say. They were LOUDLY shopping. One asks “how much is that?” The response? “It don’t matter, if you got EBT, then it be free”. They actually all laughed and skipped down the aisles singing their new slogan. I wanted to punch them.
Report Post »DasAmerican
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 8:50pmWhy THE “F” is she purple with dreads? Those Fricking Liberals over at PBS are really proving how racist they really are!
Jim is probably spinning in his grave! Too bad he doesn’t have a puppet over his grave that he can poke a hand up through and tell the world to stop pushing progressive liberal agendas on children!
Report Post »motonutt
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 9:03pmWhich is it….childhood obesety or hunger? 45 million people on food stamps and children are starviing? Really? I wonder how many children could have been fed with the same money that Obummer gave to his cronie buddies over at Solyndra?
jb.kibs
Posted on October 5, 2011 at 11:42pmi’ll tell you.
Report Post »they got 535 million dollars.
there aer 304 million people in the US.
535 / 304 = 1.75 million dollars for every man, woman and child in the US.
think that could feed some people?
motonutt
Posted on October 6, 2011 at 9:36am@JB….WoW!!!!…..I have never thought to do the math…..that’s insane….and now we find out he wanted to give another 440 billion…..
Report Post »hancrob2
Posted on October 6, 2011 at 12:04pm@ JB; Not to be a jerk, but I think you need to redo your math. It woud be $1.75 for every man, woman, and child.
Report Post »motonutt
Posted on October 6, 2011 at 2:04pm@HANCROB…not to be bad at math but that don’t seem right either. Lets say you give $2 to every 304,000,000 people, wouldn’t that be roughly $608,000,000????? Are we smarter that a 5th grader?
Report Post »hancrob2
Posted on October 6, 2011 at 11:37pm@MOTO You’re right. I was off. If you rounded up it would be about $1.76 for every man woman and child, not $1.75. Get a calculator and multiply 1.76 by 304,000,000 and you get 535,040,000. Your example of 2 bucks is correct, but keep in mind, 304,000,000 quarters is a lot of change, as a matter of fact it is equal to $76,000,000. So yeah, if you just add another $0.25 for every man woman and child in America, it would be significantly more than $535,000,000. I wasn’t trying to be rude, but lets face it, if we’re going to argue and debate effectively, our arguments need to be irrefragable.
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