Teletubbies gay

By this time, the show had spread to 120 countries and was being aired in 45 languages: Right after the United States discontinued Teletubbies, government officials in Poland resurrected the ten-year-old Tinky Winky debate — this time, with the mission to “scientifically prove” that the character was, indeed, a “homosexual.”

Ewa Sowinska, as the country’s child rights ombudsman, was tasked with investigating complaints against faulty administration.

While some fans interpret the characters’ characteristics as potentially LGBTQ+ friendly, others see it as mere coincidence or misinterpretation.

It’s important to remember that children’s programming should focus on education, entertainment, and values rather than sexual orientation. “The mistake was that adults projected adult sexuality onto these pre-sexual creatures,” he reflects.

“As a Christian, I feel that [Tinky Winky’s] role modelling of the gay lifestyle is damaging to the moral lives of children.”

Anti-gay crusader Rev. Jerry Falwell clings to a Tinky Winky statue jokingly presented to him at a Baptist church in San Diego, CA (1999)

A few days later, he was given an opportunity to wax his theory on NBC’s “Today” show.

But a scenario in a later episode paints a sad picture.

Tinky Winky hobbles on screen and looks around: He’s alone. Susan Linn, a psychiatry chair at Harvard Medical School, voiced these concerns in a column for The American Prospect:

“There is no research showing that the program helps babies learn to talk.

“Tinky Winky,” wrote Sussex University lecturer Andy Medhurst, “may be the first queer role model for toddlers.” A few days later, The Guardian, trumpeted the purple Teletubby as “a gay icon who prances around in a particularly campy way” (“campy” being British slang for “blatantly homosexual”). Explaining how he influenced the character, John explained: "Dipsy would say, ‘Papa Come Papa Come To Po’, which was actually my take on a classic reggae rhythm track called The Whip.

"And I’d slip in Jamaican dance moves, a Bogle there and a Tatty here.

Dave, who was the first to play the purple giant left the series after viewers started to question Tinky Winky's sexuality.

Hardline US evangelist Jerry Falwell once attacked the show, saying: "Tinky Winky is purple, the gay pride colour, and his antenna is shaped like a triangle: the gay pride symbol."

The official line was that he walked due to “creative differences”, but it was later reported that the show's production company felt the actor had misinterpreted the role by "implying" Tinky Winky was gay.

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“I am proud of my work for them.

He also penned a book, “The Sex Life of a Comedian,” which tells a familiar story: A Stand-up comic gets a job wearing a furry costume on a kids’ television show and then gets fired.

Tubbygate: How Tinky Winky Incited a Homophobic Panic

On March 31, 1997, Teletubbies made it’s public debut on England’s BBC Television.

“When they brought the new guy in, that was just for a couple of the dances and for the little sketches,” he says. Should children under the age of two even be watching television? He had a high concentration of booze in his system and had known to have had problems with alcohol.

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Dipsy

Dipsy may have been considered the coolest of the Teletubbies, played by stand-up comedian John Simmit.

“He’s become as gay icon…[and] the same fundamentalists that boycott Disney are going to flip when they see him.”

By the 1990s, Reverend Jerry Falwell was running out of people to pick on. John once said he has never revealed on stage that he was the man behind the Dipsy costume, but he does tweet about his time on the show and replies to fans’ messages.

Distributor PBS recognized its potential, bought the American rights, and, in the Spring of 1998, began airing the program in the United States. “We haven’t spoken to Tinky Winky directly, and so we don’t presume to know what his orientation may be,” a spokeswoman for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force told the Chicago Tribune.

For the actor, it was a “dream Summer” — full of praise, pats on the back, and positive encouragement. "My mum took me and it just happened to be the same time that the producer of the old series had come in and wanted the hospital to get in contact with them if they'd seen any smiley babies.

"It was just a case of sitting in front of a mirror and a camera and my dad playing with toys and race cars and that sort of thing to try and get me to laugh at the camera." When the show was revived in 2015, a new baby called Berry took over the role and was even seen being cuddled by Jess in a cute snap.