You wouldn’t think an F-bomb would ever be heard on a children’s show likeSesame Street. Still, some people are swearing they can audibly hear Grover spouting the infamous F-word. A clip of the scene in question has since gone viral, with some people feeling certain Grover is indeed swearing on the show. In the scene, Grover is asked by another puppet if they should move their camera. According to the folks atSesame Street, Grover retorts by saying, “Yes, that sounds like an excellent idea!” Meanwhile, others are hearing the response as, “That’s a f*cking excellent idea!” To get to the bottom of the matter, one fan asked Grover voice actor Frank Oz his opinion on the matter, and he’s adamant that there’s no way the character would ever drop an F-bomb.
“I didn’t performGroverthere but I assure you, we take the purity of the characters very seriously. But people will hear what they want to hear. I’ve never understood why some people love imagining that, between takes, we screw around with the characters by having them swear or having them use sexual innuendos or putting cigarettes in their mouths and laughing. We don’t. It would be a betrayal of the character’s purity.”
A master puppeteer, Oz’s work on puppetry began in the ’60s. He has provided the voice for countless familiar puppets fromThe MuppetsandSesame Street, as well as Yoda from theStar Warsmovies. For decades,Frank Ozvoiced Grover himself, along with several other characters on the show. He has since semi-retired from voice acting, although he still comes back on occasion to voice his characters a few episodes per year. He may not have been the one speaking the Grover line that has gone viral for the wrong reasons, but his involvement in the show and familiarity with being behind the scenes atSesame Streetcertainly makes his input very credible. No matter what you think you might hear, Oz definitely isn’t buying that you’d ever hear a swear word on the program.
You may not see cute puppets legitimatelydropping f-bombsonSesame Street, but a movie released earlier this year might fill that gap.The Happytime Murdersis an R-rated movie in the style ofSesame Street, set in a universe where humans and puppets co-exist. Full of raunchy and dark humor, the movie is as far removed fromSesame Streetas you’re able to get. In fact, Sesame Workshop even filed a lawsuit against the production company, unhappy with the movie’s tagline, “All Sesame, No Street.” Unfortunately for them, the lawsuit was tossed by a judge and didn’t affect the movie’s marketing or release in a negative way.
A while back, a clip from the ’80s seriesSuper Mario Bros. Super Showwent viral for similar reasons. In the clip, Luigi removes a strand of spaghetti from Mario’s overalls, prompting Mario to respond, “Well, thank you Luigi!” Some people hear it as “F*ck you Luigi” instead. Like Oz explains with Grover onSesame Street, it seems people will hear what they want to hear sometimes, regardless of what is actually being said.
Sesame Workshopisn’t about to let such a clear swear word make it to the screen. Even if something were to slip past them, it’s clear from Oz’s words that the puppeteers wouldn’t try doing it in the first place, so as not to pollute the purity of the characters. It’s okay to imagine and even find it funny, but just know that Grover isn’t genuinely swearing on the popular children’s program. You can look at Oz’s tweets on the Grover F-bomb debacle below!
