Beloved Brand Sues Scurrilous Lampoon

“No Sesame All Street” reads the tagline promoting The Happytime Murders, a movie in which some puppets become hookers, while others curse, do drugs and blow rivals away with assault weapons. Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit that produces “Sesame Street,” has filed a lawsuit against STX Entertainment, the film’s creators, not for the puppets gross behavior, but for the tagline. “We take no issue with the creative freedom of the filmmakers and their right to make and promote this movie, rather this is about how our name is being misused to market a film with which we have no association,” Sesame Workshop said in a statement. The movie’s director is Brian Henson, a son of Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets. Henson Sr. helped develop Sesame Street’s stock characters. “We were surprised and disappointed that ‘Sesame Street,’ a show dedicated to educating young children, is being exploited to market this R-rated film,” said the Sesame Workshop statement. According to the suit, the tagline confuses consumers, one of whom tweeted that the movie was a dream come true because now there is an adult version of the beloved kids show.