One Million Moms Boycotts "Perverted" Muppets Series

[Fanghawk]

One Million Moms Boycotts "Perverted" Muppets Series

The Muppets are finally back on television, but One Million Moms doesn't find them to be family-friendly anymore.

<a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/muppets>The Muppets are many things to many people, but "perverted" probably isn't one of them - despite the distinct lack of pants among its cast. Yet that's exactly how <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117453-One-Million-Moms-Fights-Gay-Superheroes>One Million Moms views their latest TV series, which premiered last night to generally positive reviews. In a recent statement - published before the first episode aired - One Million Moms criticized The Muppets for its apparent lack of family values. Specifically, they fear Jim Henson's beloved characters are making too many sexually-charged jokes and endorsing pro-choice feminism.

"The mature version of The Muppets will cover a range of topics from sex to drugs," the statement reads. "Miss Piggy came out as a pro-choice feminist during an MSNBC interview. The puppet characters loved by kids in the 1970s and 1980s and beyond are now weighing in on abortion and promiscuity."

What One Million Moms is reacting to are interviews and promotional materials <a href=http://www.newsweek.com/sort-adult-version-muppets-coming-abc-331203>suggesting The Muppets is "sort of" adult. The series follows a mockumentary style similar to shows like The Office, taking a candid look at each Muppet's personal life. That being said, the only explicit sexual joke One Million Moms references is a commercial where Kermit jokes "Finally, a network TV show with full frontal nudity".

Of course, pop culture boycotts are nothing new for One Million Moms. The conservative Christian activist group <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/116075-One-Million-Moms-Want-Same-Sex-Archie-Comic-Out-of-Toys-R-Us>rallied against Archie for addressing gay marriage, launched a campaign <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/136381-GTA-V-Star-as-Adult-Swims-Black-Jesus-Draws-Protests>against Black Jesus, and didn't especially care <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117453-One-Million-Moms-Fights-Gay-Superheroes>for gay superheroes either. Ironically, One Million Mom's criticisms seem to actually attract a bigger audience to each work - that Archie issue ended up selling out, for example.

"Many parents unknowingly will let their children watch an episode only to find out its perverted nature too late, unless they are alerted ahead of time," the statement continues. "Meanwhile, parents will have to explain to confused children that the program they once were allowed to watch is no longer a nice show. This would have been completely unnecessary if ABC had made the program follow its original family-friendly design."

It's probably worth remembering The Muppets always had an adult streak. Jim Henson <a href=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Muppets#1950s.E2.80.931990s:_Under_Jim_Henson>wanted the original show to appeal to parents as well as children, which he achieved using self-referential comedy and an excessive burlesque style. If The Muppets seem more adult today, it's only because they're parodying adult content - which still seems good-natured and non-explicit so far.

Meanwhile, family-friendly shows like Sesame Street <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/141969-Sesame-Street-Will-Air-First-On-HBO-And-Streaming-Services-Before-PBS>are still in production thanks to HBO, which absolutely supports adult content. What a strange world for a Muppet to live in.

Source: One Million Moms

Permalink

 

[FogHornG36]

OH WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!
https://asexblogofonesown.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/think-of-the-children.jpg

At first i wondered, woh, what are they putting on this show, and then i saw your description of the group...

Nothing to see here

 

[visiblenoise]

With a name like "One Million Moms," how can anyone take them seriously? All I keep thinking of is that scene from Hot Fuzz.

 

[Zontar]

With a name like "One Million Moms," how can anyone take them seriously?

The answer is no, no one takes them seriously. They are what happens when the MPAA looses its power: a group of religious puritans who don't have any moral authority telling the rest of us how things should be.

To be frank 20 years ago this wouldn't have even been brought up, but with the bar being lowered on what should and shouldn't be considered child friendly during the past 15 years this is now a thing (for reference: here in Canada where the bar never fell movies like The Avengers are still rated "G" while in the US they had to remove a bit of blood in one scene to avoid an "R" rating).

 

[Sylveria]

With a name like "One Million Moms," how can anyone take them seriously?

The answer is no, no one takes them seriously. They are what happens when the MPAA looses its power: a group of religious puritans who don't have any moral authority telling the rest of us how things should be.

To be frank 20 years ago this wouldn't have even been brought up, but with the bar being lowered on what should and shouldn't be considered child friendly during the past 15 years this is now a thing (for reference: here in Canada where the bar never fell movies like The Avengers are still rated "G" while in the US they had to remove a bit of blood in one scene to avoid an "R" rating).

Sadly, this is the world we live in now. A bunch of repressive,self-righteous yet disgustingly hypocritical busybodies on both sides of the political spectrum are trying to dictate what is and is not acceptable for the other 99.99999999999999999999% of the world.

 

[Fanghawk]

Before we rush to defend the original "family-friendly" Muppets, let's all remember that classic episode where Miss Piggy stole Rudolf Nureyev's towel in the sauna.


Nope, no sexual jokes here.

 

[JLF]

What are the "One Million moms" advocated values? Or is it more about the fear of change? (Fun google fact the term is Metathesiophobia)

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

The muppets are back on TV??? Joyous times indeed!!!

Oh it's one million hypothetical mums (yeah, british spelling cos i'm feelin all dangerous today), the christian group that is as noisy as N. Korea having a tantrum just less entertaining. Certainly as hilarious to watch backfire on them though.

 

[Ukomba]

I just can't bring up any sympathy for Disney at this point.

 

[hermes]

With a name like "One Million Moms," how can anyone take them seriously?

The answer is no, no one takes them seriously. They are what happens when the MPAA looses its power: a group of religious puritans who don't have any moral authority telling the rest of us how things should be.

To be frank 20 years ago this wouldn't have even been brought up, but with the bar being lowered on what should and shouldn't be considered child friendly during the past 15 years this is now a thing (for reference: here in Canada where the bar never fell movies like The Avengers are still rated "G" while in the US they had to remove a bit of blood in one scene to avoid an "R" rating).

Now?? I remember Married with Children having a huge PR backlash because ONE woman (One < One million), had problems with it. She wasn't even that prominent, not a politician or a public figure.

My point is, witch hunting and old people offended are old as dirt. At least with this group, we can all point out and laugh.

Before we rush to defend the original "family-friendly" Muppets, let's all remember that classic episode where Miss Piggy stole Rudolf Nureyev's towel in the sauna.


Nope, no sexual jokes here.

Thanks for that.

I don't know who this woman refers to, but I would like to point out the Muppets were never about sanitized humor.

 

[Objectable]

I'm just going to quote the Toughpigs.com article here.
<quote=toughpigs>
have to wonder if there are any Disney executives skimming the online reactions and shaking their heads in frustration. When they announced the ?Muppet Moments? series for Disney Junior, fans complained because the Muppets aren?t supposed to be for little kids. Now they?re trying to get the demographically desirable potential viewers excited about the new series by ensuring them it?s for all ages, and fans are complaining that the Muppets aren?t supposed to be for adults.

On the other hand, there?s no such thing as bad publicity. Hey, maybe this is a brilliant stealth marketing campaign! If they had said, ?We?re working on a Muppet TV show,? it wouldn?t have been a big story, but ?We?re working on a more adult Muppet TV show? has gotten people talking. If that?s the case, the strategy was a rousing success, and I encourage Disney to be as misleading and dishonest as possible in all future announcements. It?s so crazy it just might work!

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I'm not going to lie. When I saw the clip of Kermit where he uses the word "Hell" to describe his life, a small part of me was shocked and a tiny bit offended.
The rest of me was busting up laughing, especially with the followup, "Can't say Hell" and then the look on Kermit's face.

I watched it last night. It was fun. I liked it. I really like that Kermit finally said enough about how Miss Piggy acts, because yeah, there have been times where I've been, "Okay, enough is enough," with her character.

However, I'm not sure if this show has saying power just yet. We shall see.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I thought the show was hilarious. That's the most pent up I've ever seen scooter.

 

[Shiftygiant]

Today's top story: Recognized hate group calls for boycott on popular legacy show. No one takes them that serious.

 

[deleted+75193]

DELETED

 

[drkchmst]

I think I just discovered that humans are sexual in nature and it must NEVER be talked about ever.

 

[marioandsonic]

Wasn't this the same group that protested Archie comics a few years ago because one of Archie's friends was gay?

 

[hentropy]

The worst thing about The Muppets have always been the sick and perverted on-again-off-again interspecies relationship between a swamp frog and a wholesome farm pig. They're not even part of the same scientific class of creature! I know we usually say that science is the devil, but in this case it simply proves the point The Muppets have always been subversive to good, Protestant-American values.

 

[Callate]

One Million Moms needs to get a life... both of them.

(This joke is really best expressed exactly this way; please do not cite me for insufficient post comment size.)

 

[K12]

Why do conservative mums think everyone else should give a shit about their kids? You think of your own fucking children I've got better things to do... like drink and masturbate.

Seeing this article I was really hoping that they were complaining about Kermit and Miss Piggy being an inter-species relationship and therefore promoting bestiality. Crackpot religious whinging can be fun sometimes but this is a particular boring whinge this time round.