State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland answered questions from reporters about why the funding had been cut from the Palestinians and not from Israel.

Nuland basically said that there have been budget cuts and at the same time, the Israeli version is available to both Israelis and Palestinians.

Nuland said,

“Unfortunately, with the cut in Economic Support Funds, we had to make some hard tradeoffs.  The U.S. has always supported children’s television programming broadcast by Israeli TV to kids in both Israel and in the Palestinian territories, which supports the goal of kids understanding that they share citizenship, that Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews need to live together, that they are neighbors with the Palestinians. This is programming in Israel designed to promote common sense of citizenship between Israeli Arabs and Israeli Palestinians, but also between all Israelis and folks in the Palestinian territories.

Palestinian TV has had a rough ride since the signing of the Oslo accords between the Palestinians and Israel.  Israel has repeatedly referred to multiple shows on the Palestinian television which demonize Jews and Israel and promotes suicide bombing.  The Palestinians have mostly denied this.

USAID is a State Department initiative that does so much for children worldwide.  From bringing them television programming, to promoting anti hunger initiatives.

Do you think USAID should restore the funding for Palestinian Sesame Street?

Click here to see State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland explain the decision.

USAID Cuts Funding For Palestinian Sesame Street [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Have you noticed a serious lack of breastfeeding on Sesame Street? More than 4,500 people have noticed and have signed “Bring Breastfeeding Back to Sesame Street Petition.”

The group says that Sesame Street used to tastefully show breastfeeding on its show. But nowadays babies on Sesame Street are only fed by bottles.

The petition reads:

“Back in the 70′s and 80′s nursing was tastefully shown on the show but now they have replaced their nursing videos with bottles…. If we normalize breastfeeding in our community, especially with our children, we can help raise a generation of breastfeeders which will support our economy, make for healthier children and lessen the risk of breast cancer for many nursing mamas!”

And in case you don’t believe the breastfeeders group, here’s a video of Buffy explaining breastfeeding to Big Bird.

The Huffington Post notes that the “You’re My Baby” video included breast feeding when it was released in the 1980s. The video was later edited to only include bottles.

“You’re My Baby” original video.

“You’re My Baby” edited video.

Do you think society has a problem with breastfeeding? Maybe it’s just Sesame Street that has a problem with breasts…

Last year, the children’s show banned a video of Katy Perry and Elmo singing “Hot N Cold” because Perry’s outfit showed a little too much cleavage.

Should Sesame Street bring back breastfeeding?

Bring Breastfeeding Back to Sesame Street! 4,500 Sign Petition [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

From Zombieland to Sesame Street? Actress Emma Stone took some time out of her busy schedule this week to make an appearance on the hit children’s workshop show where she showed preschoolers the marvels of balance.

As shown in the picture above Emma attempts to balance a washing basket full of clothes on her head but fails to keep it from falling over, she then tries a stack of books.

Helping her in the balancing act is Muppet Abby Cadabby who uses her magic wand to help balance the laundry basket full of clothes and books all at one time.

Here’s the video of Emma Stone appearing on Sesame Street:

If you simply can’t get enough from the actress you can also catch her in next year’s The Amazing Spider-Man where she stars opposite Andrew Garfield who she’s rumored to be dating.

“Balancing” her TV and Movie life has become second nature for Stone who also recently appeared as the host of Saturday Night Live (SNL).

Check out the video and let us know what you think about her performance and the lesson it teaches to children, I think Isaac Newton would be proud, well minus the use of magic to thwart gravity.

Emma Stone Makes Sesame Street Appearance [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Children visiting the Sesame Street Youtube page on Sunday were greeted by some pornographic images. Hackers took control of the site and replaced all the Sesame Street content with porno.

CNN reports that the webpage was taken down Sunday afternoon and that the porno was visible on the site for about 20 minutes.

Sesame Street issued an apology, saying:

“Our channel was compromised and we are presently working with YouTube/Google to restore our original content. We always strive to provide age-appropriate content for our viewers and hope to resolve this problem quickly.”

According to Gawker, the hackers replaced the main Youtube Video with a 7-minute clip from the skin flick First Anal Quest: Angelica. (You can see a screenshot here. NSFW.)

Sesame Street’s Youtube Channel description was also changed to a message from MREDXWX and MRSUICIDER91. The message read:

“WHO DOESN’T LOVE PORN KIDS? RIGHT! EVERYONE LOVES IT! IM MREDXWX AND MY PARTNER MRSUICIDER91 ARE HERE TO BRING YOU MANY NICE CONTENT! PLEASE DON’T LET SESAME STREET TO GET THIS ACCOUNT BACK KIDS PLEASE…LET ME AND MRSUICIDER91 HAVE IT AND WE GONNA MAKE ALL THE AMERICA HAPPY!”

Mr. EDXWX quickly posted a note saying that he was not responsible for the hacking.

“I did not hack Sesame Street. I am an honest YouTuber. I work hard to make quality gameplay videos, and most important I respect the community guidelines.”

The Sesame Street muppets keep getting themselves into adult situations. Last week, several muppets were spotted at the Occupy Sesame Street protests. 

Should Google try to find out who is responsible for the hack? Should the hackers face criminal charges?

Brought to You By The Letter XXX: Sesame Street Site Filled With Porn By Hackers is a post from: The Inquisitr

The cast of Fox’s hit show Glee are the newest people to be spoofed as Sesame Street muppets and their brought to us by the letter G.

In the Sesame Street video the cast teaches children how to pronounce the letter “G.” The characters include Finn, Rachel, Kurt, Artie, Mercedes, Sue Sylvester, and Mr. Schuester who is renamed “Mr. Gooster” for the sake of the clip.

While Sesame Street is a kids show that doesn’t mean some bullying doesn’t happen, Sue tells Mr. Gooster:

“You know all about gel, Gooster. You use enough of it.”

The group even sings a take on Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin” which they call “Don’t stop your G-ing” with such thought provoking lyrics as:

“Don’t stop your G-ing / There’s two sounds that you’re hearing.”

Here’s the video:

I personally like the “Here’s what you missed on G” beginning. What was your favorite part of the parody?

Sesame Street Parodies Glee Cast, Sue Sylvester Still A Big Old Meanie is a post from: The Inquisitr

There’s also that really edgy ongoing story arc about those gay roommates.

This is What I Love About Sesame Street is a post from: The Inquisitr

Grudgingly, this is probably only slightly less annoying than text message radio silence.

[reddit]

[Pic] The Most Annoying Text Message You Get is a post from: The Inquisitr

Sesame Street has always prided itself on being an interactive program that encourages your children to get involved. Watch an episode of the popular kids show for more than five minutes and it’s almost guaranteed you will be asked questions with a pause long enough for you to answer. Now Children can actually interact with the characters from their favorite show in real time, using nothing more than their moving bodies, a Microsoft Xbox 360 and the Microsoft Kinect system.

Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster is laid out like a storybook featuring the shows most popular characters (including: Cookie Monster and Elmo). Your child simply stands in front of the TV and plays games with the characters, goes on adventures, solves problems and even learns valuable life skills, all while getting a workout.

According to the games press release:

“Parents and children literally become part of the whimsical storybook adventure by getting active together through dancing, jumping, flying and more.”

More interaction is always a good thing so if you want to sit your kids in front of the TV to learn something, you can now have them stand up and interact, a much healthier choice if  TV based education is your temporary answer.

[Via Switched]

Sesame Street Game For Microsoft Kinect, More Interaction For Your Kids is a post from: The Inquisitr

It appears Sesame Street is sticking with their “stuff adults like” theme this season- in addition to the “True Mud” parody of True Blood, check out Grover’s impression of the Old Spice dude:

Sesame Street, Grover parody ‘I’m on a horse’ Old Spice ads is a post from: The Inquisitr

So this exists.

Apparently, Sesame Street hasn’t ruffled enough feathers with their introduction to Katy Perry’s cleavage, so they’ve also decided to parody what is probably the porniest show on television right now, True Blood. Why the most preschool friendly show on TV decided to pay homage to the one that has the absolute most sex, violence, blood and horror of all cable shows was not readily apparent. (Although the bit does include some excellent examples of rhyming.)

It’s actually not the most amusing of parodies, but notable because it’s such a bizarre choice. And it has a really cool bit at the beginning with Bill’s superspeed. Also cute is the whispering speculation that the Bill muppet, who keeps ordering “True Mud,” might be a >gasp< “grouch.”

“That’s not True Mud… it’s a potato!”

[Video] Sesame Street inexplicably releases True Blood parody, ‘True Mud’ is a post from: The Inquisitr

We’ve seen recently some brilliant Sesame Street pisstakes on broader culture recently, but Jim Henson’s other famous creation The Muppets have also gotten in on the act with a cover of the Queen classic “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

Pure Genius: The Muppets Cover Bohemian Rhapsody is a post from: The Inquisitr

Google updated the Google Doodle again today, continuing the celebration of Sesame Street‘s 40th anniversary with a logo featuring Cookie Monster.

The sight of the familiar blue puppet surrounded by his signature flurry of chocolate chip cookie crumbs has piqued the curiousity of many of the Googling masses- didn’t Cookie Monster become Veggie Monster to appease the health-conscious parents of today? The New York Times sums up the way a lot of people over the age of 25 feel about the updated Sesame Street, a kind of quiet distaste about the sanitization of a show conceived originally to reach out to inner city children without access to preschool:

The pedagogy hasn’t changed, but the look and tone of “Sesame Street” has evolved. Forty years on, this is your mother’s “Sesame Street,” only better dressed and gentrified: Sesame Street by way of Park Slope. The opening is no longer a realistic rendition of urban skyline but an animated, candy-colored chalk drawing of a preschool Arcadia, with flowers and butterflies and stars. The famous set, brownstones and garbage bins, has lost the messy graffiti and gritty smudges of city life over the years. Now there are green spaces, tofu and yoga.

But as with many online rumors, the conversion of Cookie Monster into Veggie Monster has been somewhat overstated. Snopes has a page devoted to the controversy, basically explaining that while Cookie Monster has indeed branched out to fruits and vegetables, he still remains devoted to cookies. Below is a clip of Cookie Monster, going on the record with Matt Lauer to discuss how the Cookie Monster/Veggie Monster thing has been “blown out of proportion.”

Google’s Sesame Street Celebration Continues- but isn’t Cookie Monster now Veggie Monster? is a post from: The Inquisitr

A lot of people are searching for “Big Bird’s birthday” today due to the Google doodle today.

I happen to be personally familiar with Big Bird’s birthday, as he and I share one. March 20th is Big Bird’s birthday in actuality, which you’d know if you were paying attention during Follow That Bird. Google is actually honoring the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street on November 4th, by rotating a bunch of characters into the logo over the next few days. Google explains the celebration on their blog in a post entitled “A la peanut butter sandwiches.”

Google doodles celebrate events and anniversaries around the world, while reflecting the personality, interests and quirkiness of Google employees. Today, you likely noticed a pair of familiar feet on the Google homepage. Leading up to Sesame Street’s 40th anniversary on November 10th, we’re excited to be featuring some of our favorite characters over the next seven days. Today: Big Bird!

Google ends the post with a video in which Cookie Monster sings about bugles and googles, from 1982.

Is Google honoring Big Bird’s birthday with the latest logo change? is a post from: The Inquisitr

First it was the Sesame Street MadMen Parody, now Apple gets the treatment in conjunction with the letter D…for dance naturally.

Sesame Street iPod Parody is a post from: The Inquisitr

Rumors are swirling that long-time Sesame Street star, resident and known numerophile The Count may have a secret jones for something besides digits…

(Video) Scandal rocks Sesame Street: Is The Count a perv? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Actor Paul Benedict, the English neighbor Harry Bentley on the sitcom “The Jeffersons,” has died aged 70.

Benedict was found dead Monday in Martha’s Vineyard and authorities were still investigating the cause of death.

Benedict started his acting career on stage in Boston in the 1960s alongside Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino. Paul Benedict appeared in a number of movies, including The Goodbye Girl.

If you’re in your 30s and you watched Sesame Street as a kid, you’d also know Paul Benedict, as he played the role of the “Mad Painter” on Sesame Street for a number of years. Here’s a classic Paul Benedict Seasame Street clip to refresh your memory.

Paul Benedict dead aged 70 is a post from: The Inquisitr