Wait, The Purple Teletubby Was Gay?

How conservative Christian censorship backfires

Photo credit: Pinterest.com

I was today years old when I found out that the purple Teletubby — his name is Tinky Winky for those of you who are uncultured — is gay. It came up in a conversation with my mom and I thought she was joking, but I looked it up and it turns out that in the 1990s Pastor Jerry Falwell was quite obsessed with the sexuality of cartoon characters.

Falwell, a Conservative Christian activist, claimed that Tinky Winky, who is purple — the gay pride color! — and who had a triangle shaped antenna on his head — the gay pride symbol! — and spoke with a boy’s voice while carrying a “purse” — was gay.

This is the same guy that blamed the 9/11 attacks on “pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians…”, which tells you all you need to know about his credibility.

Teletubbies was a children’s TV show that ran on PBS in the United States from the late 90s to the late 2000s.

I spent quite a bit of time watching the Teletubbies as a child and never noticed anything different about Tinky Winky. Falwell did though, and thank God, because this purple costumed creature was harming innocent children with his gayness! It’s a good thing Falwell was on the case. He must have spent a lot more time watching Teletubbies than I did.

Falwell went on the Today show to warn parents, saying that “little boys running around with purses and acting effeminate and leaving the idea that the masculine male, the feminine female is out, and gay is OK” is something “Christians do not agree with,”. He also added that “role modeling the gay lifestyle is damaging to the moral lives of children”.

What would we do without Jerry?

Fortunately, he got the credit that he deserved for protecting America’s innocent children. Tinky Winky was mentioned in almost all of his obituaries when he died in 2007.

But the funny thing is that Tinky Winky really was gay, Falwell was actually right about something for once. Tinky Winky was claimed by the gay community years before Falwell ever said a word about him.

My question is, when Christians are so offended and horrified by something, why…