Posted on 10/13/2012 11:55:39 AM PDT by Red Steel
On Saturday, Nov. 3, Chris Mecham and Michael Bellavia will likely be holding signs in Washington D.C.'s National Mall that read, respectively, "I am Bert" and "I am Ernie."
They hope you join them.
VIDEO: It's Official: Big Bird Was the Star of the First Presidential Debate
The duo were brought together after Mitt Romney infamously uttered the words "Big Bird" during the first presidential debate. Now they're organizing the Million Muppet March to show solidarity for "keeping full employment for all Muppets" by continuing public broadcasting funding -- which Romney plans to axe if elected.
Bellavia and Mecham described to The Hollywood Reporter their impromptu plans for the assembly, to be held on the National Mall at the nation's capital.
Even "if it's just the two of us with puppets in Washington D.C., I'm happy," said Bellavia, president of Animax Entertainment. Bellavia, based in Los Angeles, and Mecham, a writer and student at Boise State in Idaho, both had the idea of creating a Million Muppet March after Romney's remark.
After finding out that the other person had already created a web presence for the event (Reuters noted that Bellavia bought the domain name for the March while Mecham created a Facebook page) they decided to cooperate to make it a reality.
"Niether of us is a community organizer," Bellavia said. But, if "likes" are any indication, they might be getting some company in the capital: more than 11,000 people have given the thumbs up on the event's official Facebook page, and 440+ people have RSVP'd for the event on the social-networking site so far.
"The route is to be finalized early next week but the aim is to gather on the Mall likely near the Smithsonian and walk with puppets in tow to the western grassy area by the Capitol building," Bellavia noted.
"The ultimate mission is to show support for public media and public broadcasting," he said. Though public broadcasters like PBS, which airs Sesame Street, have been in the crosshairs of budget hawks, Romney's "Big Bird" comment regnited the debate about continued funding.
President Obama's campaign has even aired an ad starring Big Bird that mocked Romney for cracking down on Sesame Street instead of Wall Street.
STORY: Mitt Romney Says 'I Love Big Bird,' But Threatens PBS Funding Cuts in Debate
Mecham, who will be visiting the nation's capital for the first time, hopes that the March will draw "everyone from the young families with kids who understand the value of PBS Kids television programming, to retirees--the generation of citizens that built America's public broadcasting network and who know its value to democracy and to national security."
"We also want puppets there. And people dressed in full mascot outfits," Bellavia added.
Someone needs to bring about 20 pissed off pit bulls to this parade.
Public Broadcasting IS NOT PUBLIC ANYMORE..
It is a for profit corporation like any other for profit corporation..
EXCEPT for federal graft they lobby for and Get..
Same thing for AARP... but AARP is even WORSE...
Both should be de-funded AND AUDITED..
Little doubt there is MUCH corruption going on there..
Maybe these million morons could cough up some of THEIR OWN money for PBS, instead of traveling to Washington. Donate the travel money instead of going!
A million Muppets, who will control all of those sticks they use to make movements.
Democrats are puppets and Muppets. String and Sticks will be scarce in Washington that day.
>> and all the Liberals care about is one puppet - who earns about $400,000 per year.
They need their idols. This one happens to be an annoying, overgrown bird — and apparently a 1%er.
Who are those MUPPET MOLESTING FOOLS? Never heard of them...
At least this time the Democrats won’t be shutting down millions of acres of agricultural land to save a bird like the spotted owl, they’ll only be shutting down traffic on a few streets in Washington to save a bird puppet.
Meanwhile, while pro-Big Bird Obama supporters are marching around Washington in full party mode on the Saturday before the election, thousands of anti-Big Bird, anti-government-spending Romney supporters will be knocking on prospective voters’ doors, explaining to them the madness of spending millions of their tax-payer dollars to support a bird that can take care of itself.
If this has even HALF the “turnout” of the homosexual kiss-ins at Chick-Fil-A, I would be shocked.
Another excuse for the occupy crowd to dress up and look silly. There are no adults in the Dem party. Massive arrested development.
I wonder, I wonder... can we set’em afire?? Or are these things flame-retardant?
Time for these characters to work in the private sector.
What, too risky? Afraid to fail? Hey, you’ll probably make even more money. Then you can give as much taxes as you want to the gummint! Won’t that be cool!
Abort puppets, not humans.
Am I allowed to say that?
LOL! Yeah, I'd be curious to know the annual earnings of the Children's Television Workshop. If they have ANY brains about them, they must be earning a fortune from the sales of toys connected to their shows. Just think about how many 'Tickle Me Elmo', Thomas the Tank Engine', and 'Dora the Explorer' must be sold every year.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/too-big-bird-to-fail/article/2510253
...Sesame Street is big business by the way. In 2011, it got $45 million in donations for its programming, $47 million from licensing Sesame Street products, and another $42 million in distribution fees and royalties. Sesame’s 2011 total revenue was $134 million. About $19 million of that comes from federal sources, only $1.5 million of which is PBS.
Sesame Workshop’s total assets are valued at $289 million — more than Mitt Romney’s reported net worth of $250 million. In short, the PBS money is little more than birdseed and cookie crumbs.
So, if it isn’t owned by PBS and doesn’t need its money, why doesn’t Sesame Street just run on a cable channel like the Discovery Network? In fact, it already does. In 2004, Sesame Workshop partnered with Comcast and others to create Sprout, a 24-hour commercial kids channel that you can probably find in the three-digit section of your cable channels.
PBS wants to keep Sesame Street because it is so popular that it helps justify the existence of the entire network. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds PBS, gets $450 million annually from the government...
yeah, so why don’t they take some of the money made from Muppet movies and divert that to pbs?
Sesame Street is a one percenter!
Sesame Street is a one percenter!
Sesame Street is a one percenter!
Sesame Street is a one percenter!
Sesame Street is a one percenter!
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