Joe Blundo: Fox News, Ted Cruz take a shot at Big Bird: Will wonders never cease?

You’ve heard about the right-wing attack on Big Bird’s COVID vaccination, no doubt.

It started with Fox News hosts lambasting the puppet for talking about the importance of vaccinating kids on a "Sesame Street" special.

“Creepy,” said Rachel Campos-Duffy on a weekend segment of Fox and Friends. “Like a Big Pharma commercial.”

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz quickly joined in, saying Big Bird, who is supposed to be a 6-year-old, was promoting “government propaganda” by urging fellow juveniles to get their shots.

Seriously? Ganging up on a puppet for promoting good health? Well, I predict this is just the start of a new war on "Sesame Street."

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Here’s what I see happening in coming weeks:

Tucker Carlson of Fox accuses Rosita, a turquoise monster who speaks both English and Spanish, of being in the country illegally.

Told that Rosita is actually a puppet, Carlson responds, “A puppet of Antifa and Hillary Clinton, maybe.”

Laura Ingraham, also on Fox, suggests that when Big Bird, Grover and Elmo are on-screen together, they are intentionally mimicking the dominant colors of the yellow, blue and red Venezuelan flag.

“The same Venezuela whom leading conspiracy theorists have linked to voting machine irregularities that may have cost Donald Trump the election,” says Ingraham. “A little suspicious, I’d say.”

Sean Hannity wonders aloud whether Oscar the Grouch has created the nation’s homelessness problem by convincing generations of kids that living in a garbage can is an appropriate housing choice.

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Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia congresswoman and QAnon sympathizer, notes ominously that Count Von Count often counts to six.

“You think it’s just a coincidence that Joe Biden was born on 12/34/56?” she asks.

Told that there is no Dec. 34 and that Biden was actually born on Nov. 20, 1942, Green replies, “That’s what they want you to believe.”

Soon, the creators of "Sesame Street" are spending most of their time addressing increasingly outlandish accusations about the show’s content:

Donald Trump Jr. sends out a Tweet saying Cookie Monster’s insatiable and indiscriminate appetite has led to kids in the TV audience eating hub caps, manhole covers and Frisbees. Asked to verify those assertions, Trump Jr. says, “I’m too busy protecting the nation’s hub caps.”

Rudy Giuliani claims to have information that Elmo voted twice in the 2020 election. Informed that Elmo is supposed to be 3 years old and therefore too young to vote, Giuliani says, “So that’s a second felony. Lock him up.”

For a while it will look as if nothing can stop this onslaught, but inevitably, the culture warriors will shift their eyes to new targets. Economic policy? The climate crisis? Crime? No, more like Peppa Pig, Mickey Mouse and Clifford the Big Red Dog.

Joe Blundo is a Dispatch columnist.

joe.blundo@gmail.com

@joeblundo

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Big bird lambasted for talking about importance of COVID vaccinations