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'Sesame Street' Writer 'Didn't Think Anything' Of Katy Perry's Outfit: The MTV News Quote Of The Day

Posted 10/22/10 2:30 pm EST by in Music


"I was there, and she had this mesh thing on top of it and I didn't even notice. I didn't think anything of it, and I'm pretty sensitive to things my daughter sees and it didn't even strike me as anything. My daughter was there on set with us and she thought [Perry] looked like a Barbie doll, she thought she was beautiful and she loved to watch her. Not to say I don't see other people's point of view — I get it — but it didn't hit me at first, at all."

-"Sesame Street" head writer Joseph Mazzarino, commenting on the controversial outfit that got the segment featuring Katy Perry and Elmo taken off of a television broadcast. Mazzarino spoke to New York magazine's Vulture blog about the incident, which caught him by surprise because he didn't think there was anything controversial about it in the first place.

Mazzarino did suggest that had they not shot the segment on the west coast, they might have been able to side step these headlines. "I think we reached out to Katy and said we'd love to do something with her, and when we did, our writer Melinda Ward said, said, 'I'd love to do "Hot N Cold." ' I said, 'Great,' and she wrote a parody of it," Mazzarino explained. "In terms of costumes, if it had been shot in New York, we would have done it different and costumed her. We didn't have a costume department out there [in Los Angeles], and that's one of the reasons that happened."

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'American Idol,' Lady Gaga And Katy Perry's Muppet Fiasco: This Week's Deep Cuts

Posted 9/24/10 5:30 pm EST by in Deep Cuts


It has been quite a week here in the MTV Newsroom. We watched Lindsay and Paris in court, sat down with Tony Yayo for a heart-to-heart, argued about the new judges on "American Idol," watched a ton of television and watched a classic indie rock band in the middle of a crazy-ass lightning storm. All that activity has left us sort of run down, which is why it's time to hop into the hot tub and enjoy a little leisure time. You should do the same, but not before you take a stroll through the links below to catch up with anything you might have missed this week.

» "American Idol" has two new judges in Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez, who join Randy Jackson as the show's new adjudication trio.

» While people do seem enthusiastic about the new judges, it appears nobody will ever top the show's original three-way of Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Jackson.

» Justin Bieber isn't joining the cast of "American Idol," but he was on TV this week. He made his television acting debut in the season premiere of "CSI."

» You know where else Bieber was this week? Hooters!

» "Dancing With the Stars" kicked off this week, though "Jersey Shore" star the Situation stumbled a bit with his cha cha.
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Katy Perry's 'Sesame Street' Ousting: Was She More Extreme Than Other Artists?

Posted 9/23/10 11:30 am EST by in Music


Considering how many albums she has sold and how many weeks she spent at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, just about everybody wants to be associated with Katy Perry and her new album Teenage Dream. Or rather, everybody but the Children's Television Workshop, who decided to pull Perry's appearance on the show that was scheduled to air later this season. After video of Perry's sketch circulated online, the "Sesame Street" producers decided not to air the segment on television. The piece in question teamed Perry up with Elmo for a version of the singer's "Hot N' Cold." In a statement, the producers of "Sesame Street" said, "In light of the feedback we’ve received on the Katy Perry music video which was released on YouTube only, we have decided we will not air the segment on the television broadcast of 'Sesame Street,' which is aimed at preschoolers. Katy Perry fans will still be able to view the video on YouTube."

While Perry's outfit in the "Sesame Street" segment does show the singer's cleavage, it doesn't seem all that alarming (and certainly no more alarming than Perry's lyrics on "California Gurls," which no doubt those same preschoolers sing along to when it comes on the radio in the car). "Sesame Street" has a history of featuring stars who don't necessarily have a family-friendly appeal, including stars like Usher (often shirtless), Red Hot Chili Peppers (often pantsless) and Tyra Banks (often shameless). Plus, the whole conceit of the Perry sketch with Elmo is that Perry wants to play dress-up, suggesting that she's not even in her normal clothes. Perry's new Elmo-ized version of "Hot N Cold" is pretty great, and it delivers a fun message about being fickle, and it's a bummer that she'll be branded as "the girl who was too sexy for 'Sesame Street.'"

What do you think of Katy Perry's "Sesame Street" appearance? Was it too sexy? Let us know in the comments!

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Will.I.Am Learns A New Dance From 'Sesame Street' Star Grover

Posted 9/20/10 11:30 am EST by in Music


Over the course of his career, rapper, producer and Black Eyed Peas mastermind will.i.am has collaborated with some of the biggest stars in music, including Mary J. Blige, Carlos Santana, Justin Timberlake, Diddy, Usher, U2 and even Michael Jackson. Next week, one of his biggest productions will finally hit the street after nearly a year of preparation. Next Monday (September 27), the 41st season of "Sesame Street" will kick off with a performance of "What I Am," a song by will.i.am featuring a cavalcade of Muppet superstars (including Elmo, Big Bird, Bert and the Count). MTV News was there to observe the shooting of the segment, and when Tim Kash sat down to talk to the rapper and collaborator Grover, the bluest Muppet gave will.i.am a lesson in getting funky.

"Grover taught me how to count when I was a little pea," will.i.am told Kash. "And Michael Jackson taught me how to dance."

"I can dance too," Grover said. "I can teach you a couple of moves."

After warming up a bit and encouraging the rapper to take notes, Grover busted into a series of moves that were ... interesting, to say the least.

"You can have that," Grover told will.i.am. "You do not even have to credit me."

Always thinking musically, will.i.am took the ball and ran with it. "That's hot. That would be a dope song," he told Grover, immediately busting out some beatboxing and laying down a beat for Grover's manic "wuppa wuppa" dance (and wouldn't you know, it sort of sounded like a hit in the making). Further proof that there are few things that will.i.am can't spin into hip-hop hybrid gold.

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'Sesame Street' Celebrates 40 Years: Wake-Up Video

Posted 11/4/09 8:00 am EST by in Wake-Up Video


40 years ago, a show premiered on PBS that essentially gave birth to the concept of television for children. "Sesame Street" sought to cram a handful of lessons about numbers, words, sharing and tolerance by depicting a slightly fantasized life for a group of kids living in an inner-city setting. Using humor, animation and music, "Sesame Street" proved that television could be used as an educational tool and still hold the attention of hyperactive kids. (It could easily be argued that no show has ever done it better.)

"Sesame Street" also provided the leg up that Jim Henson needed that turned the Muppets into household names. Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch and a cast of dozens more not only became well-known to children but also entered into the greater pop culture lexicon. The remarkable thing about the Muppets remains their total integration into the normal human world (like Cookie Monster appearing as a guest on "The Martha Stewart Show" or Lady Gaga bringing Kermit the Frog as her date to the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards).

The show has also become a conduit for other branches of pop culture. (They say you haven't really made it as a star until you're a guest voice on "The Simpsons," but the "Sesame Street" cameo is also worth a fortune in cultural caché.) Plenty of musical acts have appeared next to Big Bird, some of whom seemed to come from way outside of the box: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Backstreet Boys, Beyoncé, R.E.M., Gene Simmons, Ice-T and the late Michael Jackson have all appeared on the show in some form or another. The best musical cameo of the past few seasons was when Feist appeared to sing a slightly tweaked version of her hit "1234" (sample lyric: "One, two, three, four/ Penguins who were by the door"). Really, it's remarkable that the original song wasn't written expressly for the show.

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For The Record: Feist, Smashing Pumpkins, Ludacris & More

Posted 7/9/08 5:44 pm EST by in For The Record


Feist and Elmo on 'Sesame Street'· The upcoming 39th season of "Sesame Street" will rock with a drop-in from Feist. The Canadian songstress will sing "Songs" with Elmo on August 11, joining a roster of guests that also includes Jack Black, Jessica Alba, David Beckham, Heidi Klum, Neil Patrick Harris and Jenny McCarthy.

· First he brushed the dirt off his shoulder in homage to Jigga. Now presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has given a shout-out to Weezy at a town-hall meeting in Powder Springs, Georgia. Obama delivered a speech about high school dropout rates and told teens that they were better off staying in school than wishing for NBA or hip-hop glory. "You are probably not that good a rapper. Maybe you are the next Lil Wayne, but probably not, in which case you need to stay in school," he said.

· It will probably take another month for Michigan authorities to determine what caused the deaths of a 33-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man at last weekend's inaugural Rothbury Festival, which featured sets from Snoop Dogg, Dave Matthews and John Mayer. Initial autopsies showed no sign of foul play.

· The Smashing Pumpkins are celebrating their upcoming 20th anniversary by playing a series of mostly smaller venues in August, with the promise of "unique sets and songs." The only date announced so far is an August 9 gig in Hammond, Indiana. In November, the band will play anniversary shows in New York, Los Angeles and their hometown of Chicago.

· Ludacris has reportedly signed a multimillion-dollar deal with AT&T to be their spokesperson and appear in commercials beginning next month. Somewhere, Bill O'Reilly is changing phone companies.

· Amnesty International is launching a campaign called the Small Places Tour in which bands will play hundreds of shows across the globe to help raise money and spread the word about global human rights issues on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The spokesmen for the tour are U2's the Edge and Peter Gabriel, and acts are encouraged to sign up on MySpace for a single gig or a full-blown tour.

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LL Cool J: It Might Be 'Sesame Street'...But It's Still THE STREET!

Posted 4/10/08 12:59 pm EST by in Behind The Scenes


toddmuppetjames

Ok, ok, ok...I'm tempted to make some half-hearted joke about LL Cool J and his penchant for smacking his lips (for serious, that dude is constantly licking, puckering, and smacking his lips - pause - during interviews) and the way it makes him look like a Muppet but I just don't have it in me today. Sorry.

But look! LL Cool J on "Sesame Street"! I still get a kick out of seeing rappers do things like this. And so does super-lovely MTV News super-producer, Vanessa White Wolf, who was on the set of the children's show yesterday getting a sneak peek at LL's stint as host. She writes:

Well, it happened. I’ve finally learned just how to get to "Sesame Street." Turns out you gotta go to Queens. Yesterday our crew (Dee, Brendan, Kara, myself) headed to Kaufman Astoria Studios to shoot the one and only LL Cool J while he filmed a segment for “Sesame Street.”

And can I just say, I was suffocating in adorableness?

LL was shooting a scene with Oscar, Elmo, and Abby – they were learning the meaning of the word ‘unanimous.’ He seemed genuinely psyched to be there, chatting with the Muppeteers and ad-libbing jokes during the segment. After several takes, LL and the Muppets all stopped for a quick interview – I unfortunately wasn’t able to ask any news-y questions because really, asking about his battle with Jay-Z in front of Elmo? AWKWARD!

LL headed off to the in-studio recording studio to practice his rap for the music video they planned on shooting that night. During the interview he defended going on a children’s show, beloved as it may be, because “it might be 'Sesame Street' - but it’s still THE STREET.”

Oh, Todd.

Another picture, after the jump.

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