[Newspoetry] Muppet' producers miffed over Bert-bin Laden image

[Scott Rettberg]

http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/10/11/muppets.binladen/

Muppet' producers miffed over Bert-bin Laden image

October 11, 2001 Posted: 2:16 PM EDT (1816 GMT)
 
Some speculate that protesters in Bangladesh lifted this image of bin Laden
and the Muppet character Bert, who has been graphically enhanced, from an
Internet parody site.      
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NEW YORK (CNN) -- The producers of the popular children's program "Sesame
Street" said Thursday they are upset because protesters in Bangladesh are
carrying protest posters showing the Muppet character Bert with Osama bin
Laden. 

The pictures showed up in posters carried by anti-American demonstrators
during violent protests in Bangladesh this week.

The posters show a variety of images of bin Laden; but over the left
shoulder of the largest image of the accused terrorist is a smaller image of
Bert beside a smaller image of bin Laden.

"Sesame Street has always stood for mutual respect and understanding. We're
outraged that our characters would be used in this unfortunate and
distasteful manner. This is not humorous," Sesame Workshop producers said.
"The people responsible for this should be ashamed of themselves. We are
exploring all legal options to stop this abuse and any similar abuses in the
future." 

The image is similar to those on a Web parody site "Bert is Evil," which
first appeared around 1996 on the site www.spacecat.com/bert/. The site has
amassed a collection of doctored photos that depict the children's character
as an evil madman working alongside villains like Hitler and grand dragons
of the KKK. 

But the originator of "Bert is Evil" says on his main Web page --
www.fractalcow.com/index2.html -- that he had nothing to do with the Bert
and bin Laden image. He points to another Web page --
www.j-roen.net/bert/how/how.phtml -- where he says the image originated, but
that page now shows only a message saying the image has been removed.

It appears that the photo in question, in which an angry Bert can be seen
alongside bin Laden, was lifted from the Internet by the creators of the
protest posters in Bangladesh.

It is not clear whether the protesters actually knew who the character Bert
is, and what he means to U.S. children.