A seven-year-old Korean American muppet called Ji-Young will make history on "Sesame Street" as the first Asian American to join the iconic series.
Ji-Young will make her debut in the show’s upcoming Thanksgiving Day special "See Us Coming Together: A Sesame Street Special," and will thereafter continue to make appearances throughout the season, the Associated Press reported.
The character is the result of discussions held following the death of George Floyd in 2020, and a rise in incidents of hate speech and crimes against Asians. Kay Wilson Stallings, executive vice president of Creative and Production for Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind the long-running television series, explained that "Sesame Street" reflected on how it could "meet the moment." This lead to the creation of Ji-Young, as well as Tamir, an eight-year-old Black muppet who was one of the first to talk about subjects like racism.
"When we knew we were going to be doing this work that was going to focus on the Asian and Pacific Islanders experience, we of course knew we needed to create an Asian muppet as well," Stallings said.
Ji-Young will not only introduce her friends to Korean culture, but she will also help teach children how to be a good "upstander," which Stallings explained is someone who points out things "that are wrong or something that someone does or says that is based on their negative attitude towards the person because of the color of their skin or the language they speak or where they’re from."
"We want our audience to understand they can be upstanders," she explained.
"Sesame Street" has been focusing on diversity and inclusion in recent months. In March, the show tackled the topic of racial differences with two new Black muppet characters, Wesley Walker and his father, Elijah. The conversations were launched as part of an initiative that saw the show introduce several "ABC's of Racial Literacy" resources, CBS News reported.
"Sesame Street" also recently welcomed two gay dads. The same-sex couple, Dave and his husband Frank, made their appearance in a June episode in which they took their daughter, Mia, to Sesame Street for the Family Day celebration. Although they did not discuss the nature of their relationship in depth, Frank did vaguely touch upon the subject while speaking to other families during the episode.
"Yeah, there’s all kinds of different families," he said, according to Fox 29. "But what makes us a family is that we love each other."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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