Mitt Romney launched him into the political spotlight last week when he said that he would end government subsidy of PBS - even though he "likes Big Bird" - as part of an effort to curb government spending in a Romney presidency. Big Bird received "a million tweets" alerting him of the statement. When Weekend Update host, Seth Meyers, asked if Big Bird was on Twitter, the Sesame Street star set him straight: "No, I'm a bird! Tweeting is how we talk." Duh.
In the aftermath of the debate mention, Mitt has made it impossible for the fluffy PBS star to blend in like he used to. Big Bird confided to Seth Meyers during his visit to Saturday Night Live, that after being mentioned in the first presidential debate he feels “famous.” Incredulous of the attention, Big Bird continued to explain:
“I was on the street the other day and everybody recognized me. Yeah. It’s so weird to think that just a few days ago I could just blend in like every other perfectly normal, eight-foot-tall, talking bird.”
Now, as Big Bird’s nearly four decade career hangs in the balance, he stayed up seven hours past his bedtime for the SNL appearance. But when asked by Seth Meyers if he had any political statements to make, Big Bird declined, not wanting to “ruffle any feathers.” Instead, he opted for a political joke.
“You know who loves debates? De-fishes! Ya know, cause fish eat bait. It’s a thinker.”
While we’re thinking, it stands to note that in 2010, the Public Broadcasting Station received $506 million from the federal government – a whopping .00014 percent of its $3.456 trillion budget that year. Unfortunately for Big Bird, to Romney that’s money not considered well-spent.
All Big Bird can do now is wait to see what happens in November and hope that PBS - and his job - is saved. Until then, at least he has WiFi over on Sesame Street to keep him busy.
