All you never wanted to know about the Muppets

I feel it is my duty as a hardcore Muppet fan to take a few moments for some education.

See, the Muppets are getting thrown back into the spotlight as their big soon to be smash hit movie is being filmed as we speak and I have noticed on Facebook and Twitter and in general that people are talking about them again. Awesome! I also notice though that certain rumors are popping up again that are not true. Not so awesome! I'd let it slide, but when I saw one of the most ridiculous of these rumors on a Facebook status update today, I decided it's time to say something.

So, here is my education for today - things said in recent years about the Muppets that are NOT true. You can find a similar list on Toughpigs.com - a website for Muppet fans who grew up. This was a hot discussion on this site recently and I want to give them the credit.

1. Cookie Monster is no longer Cookie Monster, he is the Veggie Monster

100% false. Yes it's true, Sesame Street had a big "healthy foods" campaign a few years back and included a song called "A Cookie is a sometimes food" but Cookie Monster is STILL the Cookie Monster. I promise. Really. He eats veggies too sometimes and he also eats the plate that they came on. He always has. Nothing has changed.

2. Disney owns everything

Not entirely true. This is a bit of a confusing item. The Sesame Street Muppets are still Muppets - but they belong to Sesame Workshop. Not Disney. The "Classic" Muppets - those that were on the Muppet Show - Fozzie, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, etc. - they belong to Disney. This includes Kermit the Frog. Yep, gray area, because he did used to appear on Sesame Street, but he belongs to Disney and therefore you will not see him on Sesame Street any longer. To FURTHER confuse things, The Jim Henson Company owns the rights to the characters from Fraggle Rock and other more obscure Henson productions such as Labyrinth. And sadly, until these three companies can get along - we will not likely see shows like "A Muppet Family Christmas" that includes all types of Muppets on television.

3. Jim Henson died of AIDS

Nope. He did develop a very fast and deadly form of pneumonia, but it was not AIDS related at all. He also avoided going to the hospital and might have lived had he gotten their sooner. If you watch interviews with some of his former co-workers/Muppeteers they said he always had an air about him that he knew he wasn't long for this Earth, so perhaps he just knew and felt it was time when he did get sick.

4. Ernie and Bert are gay.

Ridiculous. There are people out there who still believe this is true. Seriously, I am still shocked when I hear that people think it's true. They share an apartment together and that is ALL. You ever watch the Odd Couple? They are pretty much a parody of that and nothing else. Sigh.

5. Common mispellings

Ok maybe I'm getting a bit too nitpicky now - but it's Fozzie Bear, not Fozzy Bear and it's Rowlf the Dog, not Rolf or Ralph or anything like that. It made me sad when I saw that Disney World itself had a collectable Rowlf the Dog pin that actually had his name spelled as "Rolf". Really Disney? I'm sure Jim Henson was rolling in his grave on that one.

Those are the five biggest ones I know of. Am I a huge nerd for wanting to my blog readers to know the truth? Yeah. But now you can impress your friends and be like "Hey, Cookie Monster is NOT the Veggie Monster, he does still eat cookies!" Cause I'm sure that's the kind of conversation that comes up at your cocktail parties.

Happy Friday.