America! Let’s Take it Down a Notch!

Yes, I’m stealing John Stewart’s plea to restore sanity.   Pop Star Katy Perry performed her hit song “Hot and Cold” during a taping of Sesame Street last week, wearing a dress that some felt was inappropriate.  Who?  Viewers on Youtube saw the show prior to airing and caused a social media ruckus.  When the smoke cleared, the show released this statement, “In light of the feedback we’ve received on the Katy Perry music video which was released on You Tube only, we have decided we will not air the segment on the television broadcast of Sesame Street, which is aimed at preschoolers. Katy Perry fans will still be able to view the video on You Tube and on katyperry.com.”

Really? My friend Leslie Harris at Women on the Move, a non-profit organization with a mission to empower women, brought up a great point about the dual standards the show’s producers seem to be using.  Perhaps because she is a big star, Miss Piggy’s wardrobe has never been an issue.  Most likely because the show’s producers know they would lose their biggest star if they tried to go toe-to-toe with her.  Hollywood is a weird place where icons like Miss Piggy can call the shots, while up-and-comers like Katy Perry are silenced without any regard to previous precedents.  Personally, I see Miss Piggy’s fingerprints all over those Youtube posts.  Getting old is difficult in Hollywood and no doubt Miss Piggy is not about to share the limelight with a newbie.  On Sesame Street she calls the shots and she knows it.

I’m very disappointed in the way one pig can dictate the outcome of a whole show.

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