Seems like the folks at FOX News rose up in protest against the popular ‘California Gurl’. But over 1 million viewers paraded around the YouTube video of Katy Perry’s duet with Sesame Street’s beloved star Elmo containing ashort, edited version of her hit song, “Hot N Cold.”
The video, originally poised to be aired, was shot down after Perry leaked out the video on her VEVO/YouTube account this week. According to Michael Getler of the Public Broadcasting Network (PBS), he felt that the dress chosen by Perry in the video was too skimpy and would be met by a number of concerned parents if he had been aired on the popular daytime kid’s program.
“I could tell, and I think anyone could, in a second it would get a fair amount of condemnation from some parents and it made me wonder why do it this way?,” he wrote. “Sesame Street is not just any other children’s program; it is an iconic broadcast, often brilliant, provocative at times, and it does exist on multiple levels with parents watching along with their children.
He felt that an extra inch on the dress top would have saved the video and the program from being blasted in exahustive controversy.
While concerned parents lampooned at the video and for Perry’s cleavage-bearing choice of wearing the short-cut yellow bustier, most polls like at People indicate that the 50 percent of the viewers wouldn’t see a problem with it. A poll at The Silver Tounge stated that 80 percent felt the parents were too uptight.
Ironically, it seems as if the beef surrounding the whole story is more about Perry’s appearance on the show than the video. Still, Sesame Street’s executive Carol-Lynne Parente stands by her decision to bring on the pop singer, and describes her as “a wonderful musical talent”, adding, “We had a great time.”
In what obviously smells like a hypocritical move on the popular pre-school child’s program, they decided to replace Perry’s video with a parody of HBO’s ‘True Blood.’ And for those who don’t know already, True Blood is an adult drama that can be summed up with three words: vampires, blood and porn. Way to go, Big Bird.
So what did/do you think? View the video for yourself and share your opinion with us.
