Sesame Street has always held an amazing reputation among parents and young viewers for being good, wholesome, educational fun. The show has been running for 51 years now and the masterful work of Muppets like Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Big Bird has made the show the epic success it is today.
However, it seems that Sesame Street might be teaming up with a company responsible for profiting from separating parents from their children. Many fans of the series have recently uncovered a previously overlooked press release stating that GTL — Global Tech Link — would be partnering with Sesame Street “to create new Coping with Incarceration materials for children dealing with parental incarceration.”
What makes this so nefarious to parents and fans of the series is that GTL has lobbied heavily to remove in-person visits at prisons, forcing people to pay exorbitant fees to have video calls with their loved ones who are incarcerated.
Many have pointed out that a company dedicated to keeping families apart should not be supported in making literature to try to help children cope with their own bad behaviors and many are outraged upon learning about the new partnership.
In the press release, Dr. Jeanette Betancourt, Senior Vice President of US Social Impact, Sesame Workshop commented on the project.
“Coping with the impact of parental incarceration is never easy — especially for young children — and Sesame Workshop is dedicated to supporting families and helping them process big feelings together. In addition to focusing on children’s emotional needs, these new resources are intended to help incarcerated parents navigate their ongoing role as a parent during incarceration and into reentry. We are grateful for the support of GTL to enable us to continue giving children and families the tools they need to cope with the challenges of incarceration.”
Many have found that statement abhorrent when seeing just how much harm GTL has caused various families as examples like the one below have been shared across the internet.
Sesame Street’s new Coping with Incarceration resources are set to release in Spring 2022 barring any potential delays or cancellations due to the outrage surrounding them.