Cox News Service
NEW YORK – Is Bert, the beloved Muppet, really a felt-skinned henchman of accused terrorist Osama bin Laden?
That’s what inquiring minds wanted to know after the two showed up, side by side, in posters carried by anti-American protesters in Bangladesh and Indonesia.
The image, captured in news agency photos, was lifted from one of the satirical “Bert Is Evil” Web sites, crammed with doctored photographs pairing the Sesame Street character with everybody from Adolph Hitler to O.J. Simpson.
Mostafa Kamal, production manager of Azad Products, the shop in Dhaka, Bangladesh, that made the posters, told The Associated Press he got the images off the Internet.
“We did not give the pictures a second look or realize what they signified until you pointed it out to us,” he said.
The original “Bert Is Evil” Web site, which has been around for years, is www.fractalcow.com/bert/bert.htm.
Dino Ignacio, who started the site, said he had nothing to do with the bin Laden picture. He said people have e-mailed him the picture, but he didn’t post the picture on his site out of respect for the victims of the terrorist attacks. However, the picture did start to show up on other Bert-related sites.
Sesame Workshop is anything but amused.
“We’re surprised and shocked,” said spokeswoman Beatrice Chow.
The company issued the following statement: “Sesame Street has always stood for mutual respect and understanding. We’re outraged that our characters would be used in this unfortunate and distasteful manner. This is not at all humorous. We are exploring all legal options to stop this abuse and any similar abuses in the future.”
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