DanMargarita.com

Once again the cloth-composed stars of TV and movies have caused controversy.

Fox Business commentator Eric Bolling recently created a stir by claiming that the new Muppet movie is left-wing propaganda and that Hollywood is brainwashing kids using class warfare to teach kids that successful businessmen are evil. Well, they can pick almost any newspaper and perhaps come to that conclusion without the aide of Fozzie Bear.

There’s somewhat of an ironic notion to the idea of this movie being “anti-capitalism” because this movie is the latest product from Walt Disney Pictures. Yes, if there’s one company on this planet that’s anti-capitalist, it’s Disney (sarcasm).

I mean, one of the main characters, one of the movies heroes, is a pig! You can’t get much more capitalist than that!

“They (Hollywood) hate corporate America,” exclaimed Bolling’s guest Dan Gainor, who decried movies that he perceived as “attacking the oil industry.” How such an industry that gave us such debacles as Enron and The Gulf Oil Spill could be depicted as bad guys is anybody’s guess.

Okay, not to rip off Bill Murray’s would-be movie critic from Saturday Night Live in the ‘70’s, but in the interest of full disclosure, I haven’t seen the movie.
That said, there’s enough being written about the controversy to figure out what is going on here.

It seems that the plot involves The Muppets trying to keep their old theater from being torn down, for sentimental reason, by a rich oilman known as Tex Richman, who wants to drill the site for oil. It would seem that The Muppets are not so much against drilling for oil as they are against having their old stomping grounds razed.

Would the tone of the movie be any different if someone wanted to tear down the theater to build a Dunkin’ Donuts on the site? (Yeah, I’m eating a Dunkin’ Donuts Boston Cream donut as I write, hence the reference).

Part of this story is the reuniting of the Muppets who have been split up for years. I don’t know if the movie delves into the cause of the split. I’m wondering if it involved Yoko Ono.

James Bobin, the director of The Muppets, has come out and denied that the movie is anti-capitalist and that the Tex Richman character is:

“Clearly he is a classic, old school bad guy. He’s bad not because he works for an oil company but because he’s evil. No, it’s not a communist movie in any way.”

Then again, that’s probably what a commie sympathizer would say.

So far, there have been no calls for The Muppets to be called before the House Un-American Activities Committee, but maybe there should be. Yeah, I’d like to see Kermit the Frog sweat (do frogs sweat?) and deny that he is or ever has been a member of the Communist Party.

Perhaps they could break him and he might start naming names…or letters or colors.

“I have here in my hand a list of five Muppets…” (my apologies to Clay Ventre for use of that joke).

Perhaps we can have another McCarthy era batch of anti-communist movies like they did in the 1950’s.

I Was a Communist Muppet for the FBI and I Married a Muppet.

Perhaps Muppets will get blacklisted and forced to work under assumed names like Hollywood screenwriters had to do in the ‘50’s.

“Written by Kermit The Fly and Miss Puppy.”

Certainly, The Muppets have had an environmental message to spread in the past. The Muppets creator, the late Jim Henson, was a staunch advocate for wilderness protection, as was Kermit, who in a 1990 ABC Earth Day Special warned viewers about “species extinction.” However, you have to consider the source on that one. He is a frog; that’s just a matter of self-preservation.

I hope that Miss Piggy doesn’t wind up being sent to Gitmo, because there are a lot of Muslim prisoners there and she’s not exactly halal.

After serious consideration (well, sort of), I can only think to ask Mr. Bolling one question:

Have you no sense of decency, sir?