It's time we had a national discussion and reckoning with the problematic nature of Sesame Street.
Oscar the Grouch is a vile caricature of the unhoused. To suggest a muppet would ENJOY living in a trash can should shock the conscious of any American. That we allow our toddlers to giggle at his obvious struggle with mental health is a wound to our national soul that may never heal.
Burt and Ernie continue, decades on, to be forced to lived a life of closeted humiliation. There are exactly ZERO transexual muppets on the show, unless you count Big Bird (what with his enormous masculine stature and soft feminine mannerisms), in which case this is just another example forcing our LBGTQ+ muppets into heteronormative roles. (I shudder to even THINK about what Snuffleupagus's prominent eyelashes are supposed to be dog-whistling.)
Cookie Monster makes a cruel mockery of victims of disordered eating. Elmo, a likewise cruel imitation of those afflicted with ADHD and non-normative speech articulation.
Sesame Street itself is a picture of gentrification run wild, a quiet treelined street of beautiful brownstones and unacknowledged and deeply shameful privilege.
Sesame Street has done some good in helping toddlers learn to read and write, but its outdated view of America is toxic and must be addressed NOW.