NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) 鈥� taught kids the importance of preventing wildfires. warned them not to talk to strangers. And in 1972, Big Bird lined up on 鈥淪esame Street鈥� to receive a measles vaccine as part of a campaign to get more youngsters inoculated against the disease.
But when that same iconic, 8-foot-tall children鈥檚 character last weekend that he had been vaccinated against COVID-19, conservative politicians immediately pushed back.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican, grilled Big Bird for what he called Fox News contributor Lisa Boothe described it as
鈥淢y wing is feeling a little sore, but it鈥檒l give my body an extra protective boost that keeps me and others healthy,鈥� Big Bird
鈥淪esame Street鈥� has long faced grumbles from conservatives unhappy with its connections to U.S. public broadcasting, which receives federal funding. Yet this latest fallout marked a new contentious flashpoint that has plagued previous rollouts of the vaccine, just as the shot becomes available to children between the ages of 5 and 11.
Nearly 50 years ago, when the show was in its third season, 鈥淪esame Street鈥� encouraged kids to get the measles vaccine by showing Big Bird and other children getting the injection. The move was similar to other public service campaigns that used beloved characters to help teach children life lessons, including discouraging littering, wearing seatbelts and looking both ways before crossing the street.
鈥淲hat Big Bird is doing is part of a long tradition. But what鈥檚 different now, of course, is that everything is political and everything is contentious," said an American studies professor at Brandeis University. 鈥淪omething that we all wanted a year ago, the vaccine, is now this matter of great contention.鈥�
Controversy at the intersection of TV and politics has popped up here and there for decades. In 1952, didn't use the word pregnant once in an episode that focused on the title character, Lucy Ricardo, having a baby after executives determined that doing so would be too scandalous.
The 1970s TV series a spinoff show of which explored all manner of political and racial issues in the household of a bigoted man from the New York City borough of Queens, showed the character Maude opting to get an abortion. The storyline was aired a year before the U.S. Supreme Court made Roe vs. Wade the law of the land. Multiple affiliates refused to air reruns of the episode.
In the early 1990s, the sitcom found itself in a high-profile tiff during the 1992 presidential campaign when Dan Quayle, vice president to George H.W. Bush, lambasted the unmarried Murphy鈥檚 pregnancy as a mockery of fatherhood and American morality.
In 鈥淭he Puppy Episode鈥� of that aired in 1997, Ellen DeGeneres made history as the first prime-time lead on network TV to come out as gay. It was a huge cultural moment, but it also sparked attacks from religious groups. ABC later placed a warning about 鈥渁dult content鈥� when DeGeneres' character kissed another woman in a separate episode.
Nearly 15 years ago, PBS was denounced by the nation's education secretary after it spent money on a cartoon with lesbian characters. The episode of featured two lesbian couples while the title character, an animated bunny, was on a trip to Vermont 鈥� a state at the time that was known for recognizing same-sex civil unions when many others did not. PBS later decided not to distribute the episode to its stations.
鈥淲hen you get a mass medium as dominant and powerful as television ... that鈥檚 always going to be a battleground over what messages get out there,鈥� said director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University.
Big Bird's tweet ruffled others' feathers at a time when educational messages directed toward children are under increased scrutiny. Schools have seen an uptick in heated debates from frustrated parents and elected officials over how racial and social justice issues are handled in classrooms and instructional materials. Most recently, Republican the Virginia governor鈥檚 race after seizing on conservatives鈥� frustrations with schools.
Meanwhile, education officials have faced multiple conflicts on how they should handle mask and testing requirements during a pandemic. Some Republicans have pushed back against marketing the COVID-19 vaccine directly to minors.
鈥淭he whole `Sesame Street' embrace of diversity, inclusion, being nice, paying attention to people of poverty and of different colors, that is all a form of education directed at kids that most people would think is a really good thing and a great contribution. Then comes the vaccines,鈥� Thompson said. 鈥淎nd now, this idea of getting a vaccine is no longer a celebration. It鈥檚 become something else.鈥�
In Tennessee, the state briefly halted its vaccine outreach to children and after GOP leaders threatened to dissolve the health agency over marketing efforts to get children vaccinated against the disease. During a meeting with department heads, Republican Rep. Scott Cepicky held up a printout of the ad featuring a smiling teen with a Band-Aid who had recently been vaccinated and called it 鈥渞eprehensible.鈥�
The GOP-controlled General Assembly later passed legislation banning certain minors as young as 14 from getting the shot without parental consent 鈥� an option that was previously available, albeit used infrequently. The measure, which Republican Gov. Bill Lee promised to sign this week, has only a handful of exceptions.
"It's not surprising that the pandemic, vaccination and following public health advice might fall into this cultural battle or effort to leverage emotive issues to your political advantage if you're a senator or a political candidate," said author of 鈥� .鈥�
鈥淭he flashpoints in our culture wars," Woodard said, 鈥渁re often flashpoints between an individual liberty and a common good perspective."
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This story has been corrected to show that the abortion storyline occurred on the show 鈥淢aude,鈥� not 鈥淎ll in the Family.鈥�
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Kimberlee Kruesi covers politics and the coronavirus pandemic for The Associated Press. Follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/kkruesi
Kimberlee Kruesi, The Associated Press
