Billy Porter on SS: Real or Hoax?

[D'Snowth]

There's a lot of buzz going around on the internet regarding Billy Porter going to be on SS, and it's stirred up a lot of controversy, particular from, surprise-surprise, a prominent right-wing Evangelical Christian demanding that funding for the show be stopped over his appearance.

But from what I understand, the whole idea of Billy Porter appearing on SS was nothing more than an elaborate hoax cooked up by one of these fake news sites (similar to Cracked, The Onion, Babylon Bee, etc.) just for that very reason: to stir up controversy on the internet and social media . . . though now, much like the SPACE JAM sequel, this is supposedly no longer a hoax, and is actually happening.

So, which is it? Is it all just an elaborate hoax that was orchestrated just to get people stirred up, or is this actually happening and people really are upset about it?

 

[antsamthompson9]

The reason people are upset is because a man will be appearing on Sesame wearing a dress.

 

[Jake the Dog]

Hoax? The **** are you talking about? Sesame posted pictures of Billy on the set last week on social media. He had his own dressing room with a custom nameplate and anything? I'd never heard anyone talk about the idea of him being on Sesame before those pics were posted. AFAIK, people only started getting mad and going full conspiracy theorist in response to the official post.

 

[D'Snowth]

Hoax? The **** are you talking about? Sesame posted pictures of Billy on the set last week on social media.

I've seen the pictures floating around on social media, but I didn't see where they came directly from SS, so I didn't know if they were real or Photoshopped.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Yeah, SS posted about it:
http://instagr.am/p/B78hhoNI4gm/
It's honestly kind of hilarious and sad how upset people are getting over it. People are saying, "It's the gay agenda!" or "Sesame Street has become too liberal!", I say, it's just clothes! Let people wear whatever the **** they want!

 

[D'Snowth]

Alright then, that clears everything up.

But yeah, I never understand these complaints from people who whine that SS has "become to liberal" or "too leftist" or "too politically correct," because it's always been that way from day one in 1969 - it was born out of liberation! It was born out of the hippy, flower-power, peace-and-love era of the late 60s, where the big message was everybody has human rights: white people, black people, men, women, whoever . . . those were liberal ideals then, they're still liberal ideals to this day . . . heck, look how Mississippi would flat-out refuse to air SS because of how integrated the cast was in a state that was still embracing segregation.

 

[minor muppetz]

I feel like the outfit is part-tux, part-dress.

I wonder if Sesame Workshop will stand by airing this in spite of all the complaints or if they’ll end up pulling the segment from broadcast like with the Katy Perry segment.

When people complain about this on social media, should we point out times in the past when male Muppet characters were in dresses? Bert has a number of times, though he usually didn’t like it. And Cookie Monster was sometimes in a wig and women’s accessories when playing a role. Or is this not supposed to be a person in drag?

 

[LittleJerry92]

Alright then, that clears everything up.

But yeah, I never understand these complaints from people who whine that SS has "become to liberal" or "too leftist" or "too politically correct," because it's always been that way from day one in 1969 - it was born out of liberation! It was born out of the hippy, flower-power, peace-and-love era of the late 60s, where the big message was everybody has human rights: white people, black people, men, women, whoever . . . those were liberal ideals then, they're still liberal ideals to this day . . . heck, look how Mississippi would flat-out refuse to air SS because of how integrated the cast was in a state that was still embracing segregation.

It’s a case where they’re just looking for excuses to mock left-leaning subjects being inserted into media now that LGBT people have rights. I mean, once upon a time, I was exposed to a clearly obvious homosexual crab who cross dresses.