Lewd puppet movie vexes Sesame Street

distributed has taken legal action “obscene” new puppet over the movie,

The producers of the children’s TV show filed a lawsuit in federal court in New York claiming that the promotion of the R-rated film made unauthorised use of the mark with the tagline, “No Sesame. All Street”.

Sesame Workshop’s lawsuit states: “The threat of irreparable injury posed to Sesame’s mark and brand cannot be overstated.”

It says it is not made clear in the trailer and in promotional social media posts that they were not involved in the movie, which features puppets snorting drugs, committing murder, working as prostitutes, swearing and engaging in obscene sex scenes. The lawsuit stated, as reported by “Defendants’ widelymarketing campaign features a just-released trailer with explicit, profane, drug-using, misogynistic, violent, copulating, and even ejaculating puppets, along with the tagline ‘NO SESAME. ALL STREET’.

“Defendants do not own, control or have any right to use the

mark. Instead, they are distributing a trailer that deliberately confuses consumers into mistakenly believing that Sesame is associated with, has allowed, or has even endorsed or produced the movie and tarnishes Sesame’s brand.”

It said if viewers believed

was behind the R-Rated movie it would cause “irreparable injury to Sesame’s mark and brand”. It would lose the ability to “cultivate and maintain trust with its audience of parents and young children”.

“Defendants threaten to inflict serious, irreparable damage to Sesame’s mark and brand by associating their adult movie with

Sesame Workshop is seeking a permanent injunction preventing the use of its trademark in connection with the film’s marketing. It also wants unspecified damages.

The murder-mystery film is set in a world in which humans and puppets co-exist. It is directed by Brian Henson, son of the late Jim Henson, who invented

The movie production company, STX, released a statement attributed to a puppet character Fred, Esq, which said: “STX loved the idea of working closely with Brian Henson and the Jim Henson Company to tell the untold story of the active lives of Henson puppets when they’re not performing in front of children.

“We look forward to introducing adult moviegoers to our adorably unapologetic characters this summer.”