>From today's MSNBC website. C'mon, don't tell me y'all never
*suspected*?"
--Jon Johnson
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Wollaston, Massachusetts
Falwell suspects Teletubby is gay
TV producers call charge
‘outlandish’
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ROANOKE, Va., Feb. 9 — Is Tinky Winky, one of the popular Teletubby
characters for children, gay? The Rev. Jerry Falwell suspects so, telling
parents that the purple character from the TV show is a homosexual role
model. The company that licenses the Teletubbies in the United States
called “outlandish” the suggestion that the characters would be created
with “sexual innuendo” in mind.
UNDER A headline that reads “Parents Alert: Tinky Winky Comes Out of the
Closet,” an article in the February edition of Falwell’s National Liberty
Journal notes that Tinky Winky has the voice of a boy yet carries a
purse.
“He is purple — the gay-pride color; and his antenna is shaped
like a triangle — the gay-pride symbol,” the story said.
Falwell contends the “subtle depictions” are intentional and in a
statement issued Tuesday said, “As a Christian I feel that role modeling
the gay lifestyle is damaging to the moral lives of children.”
‘PURSE’ IS MAGIC BAG
A spokesman for Itsy Bitsy Entertainment Co., which licenses the
Teletubbies in the United States, said that what Falwell’s newspaper
described as a purse is actually Tinky Winky’s magic bag.
“The fact that he carries a magic bag doesn’t make him gay,” Steve
Rice said. “It’s a children’s show, folks. To think we would be putting
sexual innuendo in a children’s show is kind of outlandish.”
Rice said Falwell was attacking “something sweet and innocent” to
further his conservative political agenda. “To out a Teletubby in a
preschool show is kind of sad on his part. I really find it absurd and
kind of offensive,” he said.
Falwell’s spokeswoman, Laura Swickard, said the founder of the
now-defunct Moral Majority agreed with everything that was in the NLJ
article and would not comment beyond his one-paragraph statement.
ABOUT TELETUBBIES
The British show aimed at toddlers began airing on U.S. public
television stations last spring and is now as popular as Barney, a
singing dinosaur who also happens to be purple.
The Teletubbies are portrayed by actors in oversized, brightly
colored costumes. They all have television screens on their tummies and,
according to the story line, live in a superdome hidden in the hills.
Other than Tinky Winky, the troupe features Dipsy in green,
Laa-Laa in orange and Po in red. The Teletubbies dance, sing and share
“bi-i-ig hugs” beneath a radiant sun emblazoned with the face of a
laughing infant.
© 1999 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
