This article is brought to you by the letter F.
Although Sesame Street producers would probably rather it wasn't.
Sesame Street has made a lot of high profile changes to their program recently. Adding the first autistic muppet, Julia, and of course the retirement of Carol Spinney, who played Big Bird for over five decades.
It's largely been a banner year for the timeless kids' show, but now they're in the news for all the wrong reasons.
Grover, a muppet who first appeared in the 60s, is old enough to know not to curse on TV. Yet, it appears that's exactly what he did in a recent episode.
Talking to another character offscreen, Grover gets very excited about moving the camera. To many he appears to say "yes that's a f*cking excellent idea." Thousands of people who have seen the clip were stunned.
I heard the F word clear as day 😲
— @_tweet11 (@_Tweet11) December 28, 2018
However it's not so cut and dry. Just as many people who saw the clip heard nothing amiss. Swearing, pardon the expression, that Grover said "Yes that sounds like an excellent idea."
He's saying "that sounds like an excellent idea".
— Dystroph (@Dystrophical) December 28, 2018
And so was born another "yanny vs laurel" debate, or an audio version of the white and gold dress. I imagine the producers of Sesame Street will say that the kid-friendly version of Grover's dialogue is the proper one, but you can listen for yourself here.
I want to believe you Grover, but I just don't know that I can.
So far the muppet has remained mum on the controversy.
I have nothing to say. So I will just say this: "I have nothing to say". Well, what do you know? I said something!
— Grover (@Grover) August 21, 2018
[H/T TMZ]