PBS Kids’ Show Host Fired for Video:
The PBS Kids Sprout network has fired the host of “The Good Night Show” after learning she had appeared in videos called “Technical Virgin.”
The host, Melanie Martinez, had alerted network officials about one of the videos late last week and she was immediately taken off the air.
“PBS Kids Sprout has determined that the dialogue in this video is inappropriate for her role as a preschool program host and may undermine her character’s credibility with our audience,” said Sandy Wax, network president.
Airing for three hours each evening, “The Good Night Show” airs soothing stories and cartoons designed to get an audience of 2-to-5-year-olds ready for bed. Each night, Martinez guides a puppet character into dreamland. Martinez is a stage actress and mother of a toddler.
In the two “Technical Virgin” videos — made before she landed the children’s show job — she spoofs PSAs about how young women can keep their virginity.
PBS Kids Sprout airs children’s programming 24 hours a day and is seen in about 20 million of the nation’s 110 million television homes. “The Good Night Show” has been temporarily replaced by cartoons while a search is conducted for a new host.
Okay. Here’s the deal.
She did the videos for a website called technicalvirgin.com. The videos were done in 1999 or so in my house and neighborhood, have been off the web for a few years at this point, and the site itself has gone vanilla over the last few days, lest the server load keep Astoria without power for another week.
However, a few people decided to keep a copy and when sites like YouTube and Google Video came to be, they got re-posted. At least one radio station decided to claim it as their own– yes, you, Rock103, you thieving Clear Channel bastards.
So she got canned.
Big deal, right? She should have known better? Except PBS never gave any such grief to George Carlin, world famous for his list of Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television, when he played Mr. Conductor on “Shining Time Station” on PBS. Heck, the man gets hired by Disney.
And speaking of Disney, let’s talk about Robin Williams, the Genie. Or Eddie Murphy, the donkey. Or Chris Rock in Madagascar and Everybody Hates Chris. Or Bob Saget. Or Ewan MacGregor (how many films has he done in the nude? We can’t let kids watch Star Wars!)
Good grief.
PBS, give Melanie her job back. Before she goes off and becomes this generation’s Morgan Freeman.
UPDATE: Here’s a petition to help her get her job back. Go.
Done. Well, what a victory for the religious right. Now we can look forward to even more of this as the intimidation continues. What is this country coming to?
Yeah, even I has having trouble posting. Oddly, it wasn’t slowing spammers down. I’ve had a word with my ISP.
I blame the FAA.
I signed the petition and then posted a links to here and the petition over on my own blog. So that’s…like, I dunno, maybe a dozen people read my blog, so I’ve literally done the least anyone can do.
I’ve never seen Melanie Martinez and I don’t know anything about her…but there’s right and wrong, and this is clearly wrong.
I signed, and included a reference to one you missed. Steve Burns of Blue’s Clues appeared on Law & Order just before starting on Blue’s Clues, and on Homicide: Life On The Street during the run of Blue’s Clues. In neither case did he portray a Boy Scout. Still, at the time, both Nickelodeon and PBS said that the roles were not problematic since they would not be seen by the Blue’s Clues audience. Nice double standard they’ve got going.
“A few years”? I’m pretty sure i pulled the vibrator one off “TV” within the last year…
I like PBS’s decision to prevent even deaf people from knowing what dirty words people say — they have to visually obscure the lipos when people say naughties.