Not to change the topic here, but Al was interviewed in Muppet Magazine, and he made two guest appearances on the CTW show Square One TV (one of which was a performance of an original song, "Patterns", which was written by somebody else). he would be a good guest for Sesame Street. And most of his material is family friendly (though it seems his last few albums have contained lyrics more adult than he's been known for, but still not too innappropriate for the kids).
Okay. Let's put this all aside for a second so I can say this. The worst thing that every happened to the Muppets, Sesame or otherwise, is that we could NEVER get these guys together. They NEED to go together. They have to. But on the flip side, look how long it took him to hook up with the Simpsons, even though he mentioned them, and used a sound clip of a Moe/Bart phone conversation, in a couple of his songs.
You know, I've seen cleavage my whole life, but I've seen a lot of things my whole life: trees, birds, skies, buildings, dogs, cats, cars, butterflies, rain, clouds... Because, like the cleavage, it's all there, it's everywhere you go, and there's no avoiding it like there's no getting away from the letter T or any other letter of the alphabet (reference to a skit from The Muppet Alphabet Album), I just don't see why people get so ballistic over it.
Until this whole bruhahahahahaha, I didn't know much about Katy Perry, as I've been out of the US for all these years. I've seen the video before the controversy broke out, and like the guy in the video said, it was anything but what the parents said. Like I said, I've seen cleavage my whole life, even before I could talk. I didn't even bother to bother (personally I'm more into booty, but that's not the point).
I agree FULLY. And as someone outside of the US, you have to admit, we look very puritanical in what we expect. We have some of the most PC, anti-violent, prudish standards for our kids and their programming and we idolize scumbags like the Jersey Whores. Snooky has her own line of costumes and bobbleheads. And we DARE talk about morals and ethics in our media? Reality shows are the most dangerous threat to our morals because there's just so much sleaze and muck and mire. Double crossing, double dealing, do anything to stay ahead, and above all, laugh at freaks you're glad you're not. That stuff is sick.
Look at the Tiger Woods thing. We idolized the crap out of him and he does something HUMAN. Same with Mark Maguire. And hypocritically enough we paid more attention to making sure Michael Phelps was the worst person in the world for doing pot, while 90% of Baseball players went years before they were caught doping up. It's not good time Charlie recreational hedonistic stuff... it's to CHEAT.
I'm sorry, but the only morals we NEED to fill our kids with are to play fair, not lie, not hurt anyone, and not to bully others. Yet, when we send these kids out into the real world, they learn that you get ahead by NOT playing fair, lying and cheating, and bullying others... the hurting people is just icing on the cake. That will warp a kid more than Katy Perry's outfit and/or her California Gurls (which INDEED is on Kid's Bop).
Sure, I'm glad we're out of the 3 year olds wearing Playboy Bunny shirts and bumping and grinding before they can walk period. Katy ISN'T one of those artists that tried to get kids to do that. Her outfit is not going to bring back the slutification of little girls. And I'm glad SW stayed away from people like Britney Spears back then.
That I object to. if they're physically telling your kids to do something wrong, THEN that's completely inappropriate.
That said, banning the skit is NOT going to stop someone from hiring a sex offender who covered his tracks as a soccer coach, or protect your kid from a passing bullet from a gang member's car.
If you want to protect children, go to source of mayhem and evil. Donate to food pantries. Support local schools. Hire disenfranchised youths. Get politically active in trying to get starving kids in bad foreign countries where their kids have REAL problems. That's protecting kids.