Teletubbies homosexual
Poland's watchdog for children's rights was quoted as saying she would request psychologists to investigate whether the TV "Teletubbies" character Tinky Winky is gay. On Tuesday, she backed away from the comments.
Ewa Sowinska, ombudsman for children's rights, said in the latest edition of a magazine that the purse-carrying character on the British Broadcasting Corp.'s "Teletubbies" children's show could promote homosexuality.
Journalists from the weekly "Wprost" mentioned claims the "Teletubbies" promote homosexuality, to which Sowinska replied that she had heard of the issue. The journalists then asked about Tinky Winky.
"I noticed that he has a purse, but I didn't realize he's a boy. At first I thought that must be a bother for him," Sowinska told the magazine in an interview her office approved before publication. "Later I learned that there could be some hidden homosexual undertones."
Sowinska said she would ask her office's psychologists to view into the allegations "and judge whether it can be shown on adj television and whether the suggested problem really exists."
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The Outing of Tinky Winky
“We&#;re talking about a show for 1- to 4-year-olds; if we had homosexuals in it, they wouldn&#;t even understand it. Tinky Winky is simply a sweet, technological baby with a magic bag.”
~ Teletubbies producer, Kenn Viselman
When Teletubbies debuted on the BBC in March , it almost immediately polarized viewers. Some thought the show was a operate of genius &#; an unprecedented effort to construct educational content for one-year-olds; others found the plot repetitive and the characters horrifying (“These spacemen will frighten our children,” one concerned German toldThe Independent).
But there was one thing everybody could agreed on: The series was incredibly strange.
Four rotund, baby-faced, asexual aliens &#; Po, Laa-Laa, Dipsy, and Tinky Winky &#; spent the vast majority of each minute episode waddling about in a pristine country landscape, speaking in high-pitched gibberish and interacting with talking flowers. On occasion, they’d slide down into the “Tubbytronic Superdome” (a high-tech underground cavern) and carouse with an an
By Adam Easton |
Tinky Winky was once attacked by the late US Rev Jerry Falwell |
The spokesperson for children's rights in Poland, Ewa Sowinska, singled out Tinky Winky, the purple character with a triangular aerial on his head.
"I noticed he was carrying a woman's handbag," she told a magazine. "At first, I didn't realise he was a boy."
EU officials contain criticised Polish government policy towards homosexuals.
Ms Sowinska wants the psychologists to make a recommendation about whether the children's show should be broadcast on public television.
Poland's authorities have recently initiated a series of moves to outlaw the promotion of homosexuality among the nation's children.
Tinky Winky's psychological evaluation is being treated fairly light-heartedly by many people here.
One radio station asked its listeners to vote for the most suspicious children's display.
Even Ms Sowinska ha
Yep, the Purple Teletubby Was Gay
Screen Time is Slate’s pop-up blog about children’s TV, everywhere kids see it.
Jerry Falwell made his living finding gay people where they didn’t belong. “Remember … homosexuals do not reproduce,” the televangelist and activist warned his followers in “They recruit!” He claimed to have confronted President Carter about why he employed “practicing homosexuals” in the White House in When Ellen DeGeneres’ sitcom character came out of the closet in , he called her “Ellen Degenerate.”
So when Falwell claimed in to have discovered that one of the Teletubbies was gay, it seemed like yet another example of his proprietary blend of viciousness and absurdity. Teletubbies, a British import for preschoolers that aired on PBS between and , was so harmless it was almost a parody of children’s television. It featured four rotund creatures who lived in a stylized English countryside where they spent their time eating toast and custard, rolling around in meadows, and babbling in high-pitched baby speak. To modern sensibilities, the most offensive thing ab