Story at a glance
- The landmark children’s show “Sesame Street” is introducing its first Asian American muppet this month — a 7-year-old girl named Ji-Young.
- Ji-Young’s addition to the cast is part of the educational organization behind “Sesame Street,” Sesame Workshop’s racial justice initiative “Coming Together.”
- “Sesame Street” has tackled race before, and earlier this year the show explained the concept of melanin to its young audience.
The muppets of “Sesame Street” are welcoming a new addition this month: Ji-Young, the show’s first recurring Asian American muppet in its five-decade history.
AP
Ji-Young, a 7-year-old Korean American girl who lives with her parents, siblings and grandmother, or “halmeoni” in Korean, will debut on the show’s Thanksgiving Day special, “See Us Coming Together,” airing on Nov. 25. She plays the electric guitar and is in a band with characters Elmo, Abby Cadabby and Tamir.
The special is part of Sesame Workshop’s, the nonprofit educational organization behind “Sesame Street,” racial justice initiative “Coming Together,” which launched last year and teaches children about racial literacy. Ji-Young’s introduction will celebrate the diversity of Asian and Pacific Islander communities.
Celebrity guests on the special will include athlete Naomi Osaka, actors Simu Liu and Anna Cathcart, comic book artist Jim Lee, television personality Padma Lakshmi and chef Melissa King.
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Alan Muraoka, the co-director of the special who joined the “Sesame Street” cast in 1998 and plays the owner of Mr. Hooper’s store, told NBC’s “TODAY” the episode comes at an important time.
“Throughout the years we’ve absolutely dealt with Asian American issues (on the show), but especially with both the pandemic and aftermath of anti-Asian American violence, it felt really necessary,” Muraoka, who is Japanese American, said.
Anti-Asian hate crimes shot up by an unprecedented 73 percent in 2020 from 2019, according to updated FBI data published last month, while hate crimes in general were up 13 percent.
“Sesame Street” this year also introduced two new muppets, a Black father, Elijah, and his 5-year-old son, Wes, as part of the “Coming Together” initiative. In an introductory video, Elmo asks why Wes’ skin is brown, and Elijah explains the concept of melanin and how “the color of our skin is an important part of who we are, but we should know that it’s okay that we all look different.”
“Many people call this race,” he says, “But even though we look different, we’re all part of the human race.”
In 2020, the long-running show introduced two Rohingya characters, 6-year-old Noor and her twin brother, Aziz, as part of Sesame Workshop’s “Play to Learn” humanitarian program. The twins live in Bangladesh’s Cox Bazar refugee camp with their family, and have been featured in several Rohingya-language segments to support children affected by the Rohingya refugee crisis.
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