Kicked off the Street
Beloved trio ‘cable-cut’ by Sesame
“Sesame Street” has been swept clean of three veteran cast members in a stunning shakeup blamed on the letters H, B and O.
Fans of the cherished children’s program erupted in anger Thursday amid reports that Bob McGrath — who’d been with the show since its 1969 premiere — revealed that he and two other actors got kicked to the curb.
McGrath told a comic-book convention in Florida earlier this month that he was booted off the block along with Emilio Delgado, who has played Luis the handyman since 1971, and Roscoe Orman, who became Gordon the teacher in 1974.
McGrath, 84, said the educational program for pre-schoolers “has gone under a major turnaround” that included cutting it from an hour to 30 minutes.
He tied the bumps in the road to the cable-TV deal struck last year by the money-losing non- profit Sesame Workshop.
“HBO has gotten involved also,” said McGrath, who is famed for singing “The People in Your Neighborhood” with various characters.
Social-media outrage included a meme showing Ernie covering his face in dismay, along with the words “BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE LETTERS W. T. and F.”
“Nice way to teach loyalty & respect to kids Will u hve funeral or pretend they went to live happy on a farm,” tweeted Mary Rinaldo Hanson of Howard Beach, Queens.
Sesame Workshop wasn’t nearly as clear as its lessons about letters and numbers when it claimed McGrath, Delgado and Orman “would continue to represent us at public events.”
“All three of them appear in segments on the show — including in our upcoming Season 47 . . . ‘Sesame Street’ has a tradition of re-airing content,” it said.
It noted, “Our cast has changed over the years, though you can still expect to see many of them in upcoming productions,” and said HBO was not in charge.