HIV positive muppet on Sesame Street

Sesame
Street has offered a variety of social messages and images since its debut in 1969. Its regular characters include adults and children of different ethnic and racial backgrounds, and it has featured characters and guest stars with various disabilities.

In September 2002 it added to its cast of muppets a female character who is HIV-positive. Segments including this new muppet will air only in South Africa (where the show is called Takalani Sesame � takalani means "be happy" in the Tshivenda language), but it is possible that eventually this character will appear in shows broadcast to the other eight nations that air Sesame Street.

The South African character has been named Kami and will be a female mustard-colored furry Muppet who likes nature, telling stories and collecting stuff. Kami is a "monster Muppet" like Grover or Elmo, the least human-like of the Sesame cast, said Joel Schneider, vice president of Sesame Workshop. The muppet will associate freely with the show's other characters as a way to fight stereotypes about people with the virus, said Yvonne Kgame of the South African Broadcasting Corporation.

"We know that she'll be lively, alert, friendly, outgoing, and HIV-positive," said Schneider, who in July 2002 announced the character to delegates attending the 14th International AIDS Conference in Barcelona. "It's about instilling positive attitudes toward people who are HIV-infected," Kgame said.

North Americans may wonder at the wisdom of inserting an HIV-positive character into a show aimed at tykes 3 to 7, little ones we would deem too young to expose to such harsh realities. But in South Africa, where Takalani Sesame airs, one in nine people is infected with HIV, and many of these are children. In that country, the horror of the disease is further compounded by the stigma attached to it, especially if the infected person is female.

The new character is aimed at undoing some of that stigma through presenting her as a happy, outgoing creature.

In an odd fashion, this July 2002 news story about a new muppet echos a far earlier and utterly false rumor. In 1990, the grapevine was a'buzz with whispers that Sesame Street planned to kill off Ernie as a way to teach young children about death.
-one in nine south african children are concieved into AIDS by 2013 15 percent of the population will have HIV.
THINGS JUST ARENT THE SAME ANYMORE

Do they have a bi-sexual muppet yet?

How about a trans-sexual muppet?

What about a mute muppet?

Do they have an alien muppet?

Is there a communist muppet?

what about...

Now they just need a muppet with MS and Parkinsons... of course a muppet with tourettes syndrome would be out of the question...

Kami is the name of the new HIV-positive muppet used to teach children around the world about AIDS. But the story doesn't really say how Kami became HIV-positive.

At first I thought of him but thought he'd more likely be the carrier of swine flu.

Then I thought of Fozzie on account of him being a "bear" and all that entails.

But I think the two most likely candidates are either Animal or Floyd Pepper, perhaps both in a kinky post-concert romp.

He's HIV+ because he was born from an HIV infected mother -- the same as the kids who are watching "Sesame Street" in Africa.

America tends to think of this as a disease that adults get. In other countries, tragically, the population of infected children is higer than the population of infected adults. These kids are born with it, they end up being the head of their households (because the parents die and they have to raise their siblings) and they die of it at a fairly early age.

Tragic, tragic situations.

Sure, an HIV positive muppet sounds horrible (and/or hilarious, if you have the right sense of humor) here in the US, but in S. Africa, it's just a reflection of common social realities. The sad thing is, i've known people who are more concerned with the muppet than the thousands of kids who are born with HIV.

I agree it is nothing to joke about, but without a sense of humor in this world you will not last very long.

Anyways, I agree children in Africa really have it tough. They have no clue what is really wrong with them or how they got such a disease. I think a muppet is not a bad idea at all. I have family with HIV and they think that it's great to teach children about the causes and efeects of such diseases through channels they can understand.

What about a mupet with....

Flu
Cold
Herpies
Hepatitus B

Aids is just another virus. It can be cured!

Originally posted by gog
What about a mupet with....

Flu
Cold
Herpies
Hepatitus B

Aids is just another virus. It can be cured!

I think it has more to do with the massive outbreak of AIDS in children in Africa. Sure they couldve gone and done malaria or something, but explaining AIDS to children seems alot more difficult.

Anyways,

what is the point of all this?

a muppet in america referencing a disease in a faraway land?

it's not like anybody is doing anything about the problems in Africe anyways.

Originally posted by groovyguru
Now they just need a muppet with MS and Parkinsons... of course a muppet with tourettes syndrome would be out of the question...

niiiiiice....
geeze, could you imagine a muppet with tourettes?! kya ha ha, it'd be hilarious!

Originally posted by effigyrelease

Originally posted by groovyguru
Now they just need a muppet with MS and Parkinsons... of course a muppet with tourettes syndrome would be out of the question...

niiiiiice....
geeze, could you imagine a muppet with tourettes?! kya ha ha, it'd be hilarious!

Hey kids, todays word is....mother#er! And the number is...damn itch!

[Edited on 26-11-2003 by mig12]

#, I can see the reaction from Pat Robertson now. He'll go on about HIV/AIDS as a punishment from GOD, etc....

And he will be promptly beat by Grover, Elmo, and Big Bird.

Some ideas for future muppets:

MIB
gray alien
NSA spook
Islamic terrorist
crack addict
televangelist
politician
hooker
drag queen
what ever you are into...

Aids is just another virus. It can be cured!

do you have the cure?

Hey I want to add to my list of potential candidates for new muppets:

union agitator
protest demonstrator
dyke rockstar
porn star
drug dealer
rapper
narc
parapalegic

more muppets:

sars
flu
STD muppet
gay
psycho
bush
blair
homey
hippie
deaf
cant smell
stinky
rapist
nympho

When muppets go bad.....

oh yer i forgot a few other muppets

Terrorist muppet
SWAT muppet