"No sesame, All street." Who would've guessed that cheeky tagline for the very R-rated puppet comedy The Happytime Murders would spark a full blown legal bruhaha. It was only days ago the trailer for the film, which co-stars Melissa McCarthy and is directed by the son of Jim Henson, was released with a ton of buzz. I mean,when will puppets doing raunchy things ever not be funny? Well, it wasn't funny to Sesame Workshop, who filed a lawsuit saying STX Entertainment was using Sesame Street's good reputation to promote their vulgar, decidedly not for kids movie.
If you've seen the trailer then you know its pretty lowbrow stuff. Nobody is going to mistake it for high art but it could be disturbingly funny in the way Sausage Party is to a certain audience. And so it's not surprising STX has decide to use the publicity from this lawsuit by responding in the most sophomoric way possible, through a puppet lawyer named Fred Esq. He issued this statement to HuffPo...
"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. ‘Happytime Murders’ is the happy result of that collaboration and we’re incredibly pleased with the early reaction to the film and how well the trailer has been received by its intended audience. While we’re disappointed that Sesame Street does not share in the fun, we are confident in our legal position. We look forward to introducing adult moviegoers to our adorably unapologetic characters this summer.”
If f'real this is some boss level trolling and a Hell of a marketing strategy. That said, my antennae are up over this one. Maybe it's one too many phoney angles perpetrated by the WWE (John and Nikki I'm looking at you!!) but this smells like a work to get the film, and Sesame Street, some much-needed headlines. We'll find out eventually, I suppose, but I'm down for The Happytime Murders when it arrives on August 17th no matter what.
Check out a pic of Fred Esq. below. He just looks like an ambulance chaser, doesn't he?
