Remind Me Please Again What Was Wrong W/the Teletubbies???

I think it was the upside down triangle on one of thier heads. It's supposed to mean he's gay. Like a kid knows that symbol means gay! That was around the same time they told us that bad words and images were hidden in the Lion King movie. The real trouble is ....Teletubbies were creepy as all get out! It felt like they were trying to put me in a teletubby trance! I know, mind control sounds way less crazy than gay preschool toys. I guess we're all a little nuts.

My son loved the Teletubbies!!! We have photos with him hugging his yellow one! I know stuff was being said about them , I ignored them. He love it!

The only thing I see wrong with the Teletubbies is that they creep me out. I can see how some would be concerned about their effect on language development too.

It was because of extreme homophobia. Tinky-winky carried a purse or something silly like that. I feel the teletubbies are a calm "gentle" show, good for toddlers, not EVERY show has to be educational, my only complaint is the baby's face in the sun kindof creeps me out.

Now if you want a show in a similar format that I do find somewhat perverse, check out Boobah. My husband made a comment once about what he felt the characters look like and it has forever ruined the show for me - LOL.

Nothing is wrong with them. The big hubbub was that one of them was supposedly gay, here is an excerpt from article about this - 'The February edition of The National Liberty Journal, edited and published by the Reverend Jerry Falwell, contained an article warning parents the Teletubby "Tinky Winky" may be a gay role model. The publication says Tinky Winky has the voice of a boy but carries a purse. It says: "He is purple the gay-pride color; and his antenna is shaped like a triangle -- the gay-pride symbol." Here is the entire article, http://www.rightgrrl.com/carolyn/teletubbies.html

My reaction is... it was ridiculous! First of all they all sounded like girls to me - heck they didn't even talk, they just make sounds! Then, the triangle, really it was just an easy shape to put on top of his head. Purple is just another bright color to use. The purse, it was bright red thing to show Tinky Winky was a girl. But the real thing that ticked me off was that only adults would see these things in this character - kids have no ideas about any of that.

My kids loved it! They have had no harmful, residual side effects from watching it (in fact, they really don't even remember watching it). :)

Completely agree that kids need to be kids occasionally.

I'm a scientist, I don't have a great creative streak nor imagination. I love that my kids do. I love giving them a book (they're 2 and 4) and hearing them make up a story to the pictures. I love my 4 year-old and 3 year-old neighbor wanting to wear moonboots in the dead of summer with swim floaties because they're into Buzz Lightyear and think they're super heroes.

Personally, I couldn't stand the wiggles. But, my son loved them when they were still on TV. Now, it's Max & Ruby I don't get, but they love them, so as long as they're providing clean entertainment while I'm making dinner, it really doesn't bother me.

The first time I saw Yo! Gabba Gabba, I didn't get it. But, it's so intoxicating to kids. I've secretly learned to love it......but, I still can't stand Barney.

Ok, my kids are older and my 12 year old was actually in the "Hipe" of the Teletubby times. It was sooooo STUPID.... Let them watch the darn show if it makes them happy.... I have all of the tapes if you want me to send them to you... LOL... We also have all of the dolls. ;) That would really get your husband going right??? Yes it started with the hipe that the biggest one, Tinky Winky was Gay. They said he had an upside down triangle, was purple, wore a tutu & carried a purse. Oh well... Who the heck cares. It was that Tinky Winky & Dippsy were the boys and LaLa & Poe were girls. That Tinky Winky (Purple) would fight with LaLa (Yellow) over her purse. Now to me... they were just acting like toddlers... Toddler boys do fight with toddler girls over things the girls want and like. It was crazy for adults to take it to that extreem. Tell your husband that I had a toddler who was crazy about them and had the dolls and the miniture ones as well. Today he is almost 13, is into nothing but sports and academics. Has girls texting him everyday. Has girls thinking he is "Dreamy" and he peeps them whenever he gets a chance. LOL.... (Basketball and the straight A's come first). He is so far on the straight fence; I told my DH that we have to keep the girls faaaarrrrr away. He speaks fine and the toddler speech did not affect him.
Also when they started the uproar; I think people were just searching for something... They also said that Dippsy was being prejudice because he was darker, danced to a Regae Beat and had rhythm.... They were just searching... I laughed at the time and told everyone that was fine, the vaccum was teaching my son how to clean up a mess off the floor.... LOL... IMO they are cute, harmless and we as adults make our issues the kids issues. Enjoy the PBS show...

i think it was the purple male teletubby that was too feminine, meaning, he was gay.
that freaked out people. my kids watched some episodes when they were younger. loved them. i had to stop it because of them trying to mimick their language, or the way they talked. that bothered me a lot. i had the same feeling about oobi show.

I think it's pretty harmless. It's not the highest educational value but things can just be fun and innocuous sometimes. There is nothing harmful about it. The big stink was by one moronic bigot who decided that one character whose head antenna was a triangle was part of a subversive gay plot to "convert" children to homosexuality. It was patently stupid and showed his ridiculous bias against gays and a complete lack of understanding that homosexuality is not a choice but an innate trait. And also, in my opinion, that there's nothing wrong with it! It is who a person is! Anyway, your husband may be remembering that there was a controversy but not remember what it was or that it was debunked by child psychologists and so on. I'm not sure there were a lot of episodes past a certain point so it's probably not something that is in reruns, so you don't hear about it. I don't see why you can't mix the tape in with other programs. What's the big deal?

I am from the UK where they were made, and we had the same thing over there, people said they would encourage children to talk like them?!, my kids loved them

Well, unless you are a bigot and were upset about one being 'gay' (because the completely asexual giant purple character held a purse, lol) then nothing. I found them sort of annoying, but I'm not 3. There is nothing more wrong with them than any other little kids' show.

Some educators disapproved of the show before the "Tinky Winky" contoversy. They feared children would have speech problems because of the unusual way in which the charactors spoke.

I looked it up on Wikipedia, here's a link that gives some info on the controversy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletubbies

I remember that whole "gay" thing too, which could or could not be the case...either way the only reason I don't like it is because they talk so "baby' to the point you cannot understand them. The parts where the kids come on and do stuff is cute, very similar to Barney, but he is understandable :) But I remember that people said some bad things about Barney too. I think the most important thing to remember is to watch any programming w/ them and if you feel something is not right there is so much out there that can become a favorite.

There was some nonsense spewed by one of the crazy televangelists if I remember right. But just from memory I don't remember anything educational that the show offered. I only remember seeing snippits of it. But if you are going to allow young children to watch any tv it should have significant educational value-like sesame street, super why or word world.

I don't listen to what other people say about different things like Teletubbies or Barney or any other show like that. I enjoyed watching Teletubbies and the kids loved them too. Go for it.

I watch silly tv shows that have no educational value except may be to not do stupid things if I don't want to get caught committing a crime...LOL. I love crime shows like NCIS, CSI, L and O, Bones, etc...I also end up watching lots of shows like Phineus and Ferb which I love. Kids don't need something in front of them all the time that is educational.

People thought the purple one was gay, religious groups moved to ban them, several anti-gay groups boycotted them......

There is nothing wrong with the Teletubbies. It is just a goofy toddlers show. Way back then one of the popular televangelists (Jerry Falwell, maybe?) started saying that one of the teletubbies was gay because it carried a pouch that looked like a purse. It was picked up on by the media and it was everywhere for awhile. Pure foolishness. I am certain you could look for the rest of your life and never find any person who was "turned" gay by watching the teletubbies. Follow your own parental instincts as to whether your children watch the show.

You have a good head and a better heart. I agree kids should be kids, and there's only one chance at it. Let them enjoy it and we'll enjoy them while it lasts. Gay, straight, black, white, latino- these are labels we put on people. In the end we are just human beings.
Neither my kids or I grew up with the Teletubbies, but I found they were soooo cute!

I agree with you. I don't want 24 hour education and work so why do that to our kids. I say if you can stand watching anything your kids like 100 times without going crazy, then let them have fun. I watch stupid shows just to relax. So the point of tele tubbies is for your kids to laugh and relax. That is something that needs to be learned too.

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I AGREE WITH YOU. I DON'T WANT 24 HOUR EDUCATION AND WORK SO WHY DO THAT TO OUR KIDS. I SAY IF YOU CAN STAND WATCHING ANYTHING YOUR KIDS LIKE 100 TIMES WITHOUT GOING CRAZY, THEN LET THEM HAVE FUN. I WATCH STUPID SHOWS JUST TO RELAX. SO THE POINT OF TELE TUBBIES IS FOR YOUR KIDS TO LAUGH AND RELAX. THAT IS SOMETHING THAT NEEDS TO BE LEARNED TOO.

Hi, N.. Back in the day, some weirdos accused one of the Teletubbies of being gay (he/she carried something that looked like a purse but was some kind of magic bag in the script). I think it's nonsense, but there was a big stink about it. I used to enjoy watching it as an adult, LOL. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you.

The producers and actors were accused of Homosexuality messages...as simply put as I can...It ruined the show forever...My little granddaughter loved them also and even had a Halloween Costume with one of the characters...So sad.

I personally dislike Teletubbies because they talk baby talk, and I have never talked like that to my kids. But that's me. When I was in highschool (94-98) there was this big blow up about the one with the purse possibly being gay. It was really stupid, it's just a kids show. But I don't think there is actually anything wrong with the show or your kids watching the show if they like it. Like you said, people just jump on things and take them to the extreme.

I can't remember "which" one of the teletubbies it was but there was something about one of the teletubbies carrying around a purse and he was male so of course the "gay" word came out and all the parents freaked out and on top of that the fact that they had no educational values for the kids because they didn't really talk but my kids liked them too-lol!

I think they are creepy. I don't care if they're gay, straight, or bi they are creepy. LOL Then again, i remember my dad thinking the smurfs were creepy and I loved watching them as a kid. To each their own! =)

They are annoying as all heck and they teach kids NOTHING. My kids didn't like the show either.

I don't think anything happened some kids shows go off the air.