‘Sesame Street’ Is Suing The Dirty Puppet Movie ‘The Happytime Murders’
Dirty, filthy puppet movieThe Happytime Murdersjust got slapped with a lawsuit from the makers ofSesame Street, who aren’t very happy about all this R-rated puppet stuff. Sesame Workshop, the folks who runSesame Street, are suing the makers of the raunchy puppet movie, claiming the film tarnishes theSesame Streetbrand. Big Bird could not be reached for comment. More onThe Happytime Murderslawsuit below.
People seemed to get a real kick out of the recentHappytime Murderstrailer, but the folks at Sesame Workshop were definitely not amused.The Wrapreports that Sesame Workshop, who own and operate the beloved institution that isSesame Street, are filing a lawsuit against the upcoming Melissa McCarthy film, which features Muppet-like puppets cursing and…checks notes…ejaculating.
The lawsuit seems predicated around the fact that the film uses the tagline “No Sesame. All Street.”, which Sesame Workshop says is an unauthorized use of theSesame Streetbrand. Here’s an excerpt from the lawsuit filing:
“Sesame seeks to enjoin Defendants' deliberate effort to appropriate its SESAME STREET mark, and its trusted brand and goodwill, to promote their R-rated movie, The Happytime Murders, by way of a violent and sexually-explicit trailer. SESAME STREET is a registered trademark of Sesame, an organization with a long and storied history of ‘helping kids grow smarter, stronger and kinder. Defendants’ widely-distributed marketing campaign features a just-released trailer with explicit, profane, drug-using, misogynistic, violent, copulating, and even ejaculating puppets, along with the tagline ‘NO SESAME. ALL STREET.’ Defendants do not own, control or have any right to use the SESAME STREET mark. Instead, they are distributing a trailer that deliberately confuses consumers into mistakenly believing that Sesame is associated with, has allowed, or has even endorsed or produced the movie and tarnishes Sesame’s brand.”
The suit also says that the “threat of irreparable injury posed to Sesame’s mark and brand cannot be overstated. Sesame has worked for nearly 50 years to build, cultivate and maintain trust with its audience of parents and young children built on its reputation for wholesome educational programming. That trust, although built over a span of generations, is too easily lost and is now in jeopardy. Defendants threaten to inflict serious, irreparable damage to Sesame’s mark and brand by associating their adult movie with Sesame Street.”
This whole issue is a bit ironic and strange, becauseThe Happytime Murderswas written and directed byBrian Henson, son of Jim Henson, whose famous Muppets are still featured on the show to this day.
According to the lawsuit, Sesame Workshop thinks that “the promotion ofThe Happytime Murdersshould succeed or fail on its own merits, not on a cynical, unlawful attempt to deceive and confuse the public into associating it with the most celebrated children’s program in history.” Now, Sesame Workshop is seeking a permanent injunction that would prevent the use of its trademarks in association with the film. One has to wonder: ifHappytime Murderssimply issues a new poster without the “No Sesame. All Street.” tagline, would Sesame Workshop drop the suit?
