A new poverty-stricken Muppet will highlight the issue of hunger struggles on an episode of “Sesame Street”, the show said in a statement on Tuesday.
Pink-faced Muppet Lily, whose family deals with food insecurity, will join Big Bird, Elmo and other favorites on a one-hour prime-time special featuring country star Brad Paisley and his wife Kimberly Williams Paisley called “Growing Hope Against Hunger,” to air Oct 9.
The new Muppet will bring awareness to the ongoing hunger struggles that families face in the United States, the show said.
This is a good reminder that culture is deliberate. Whether it’s creating prominent gay characters who have real romantic relationships (with actual kissing!) or a Muppet that highlights how many American families are starving, television show and film writers make conscious choices about what story lines to include. These things don’t just happen on their own. So when these writers and producers make choices which will influence our national culture and create awareness and, hopefully, equality, they should be celebrated. Good job, “Sesame Street”!
Hold Fast 
Matt,
I wanted to point out this video from Newsy (http://www.newsy.com/videos/sesame-street-tackles-poverty-hunger/) about the Sesame Street special on hunger. It goes deeper into the show and what the media is saying about it. Feel free to post this on your blog! Enjoy!
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Absolutely true. A lot of TV/Film writers pay very close attention to audience reaction – even though we may deny it…. which is why I support public shaming campaigns to directly call out the producers and writers of programming that resorts to homophobic slurs or cheap bigot jokes for comedy. I’m thinking of Ron Howard and “The Dilemma”
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