Katy Perry is apparently too hot for Sesame Street. A planned segment, in which she sang a version of "Hot and Cold" with lyrics about playing with Elmo instead of whatever the original was about, was pulled because some parents complained that her clothing was too risque for a children's show. Such an accusation isn't really surprising when it comes to Perry, whose latest album cover features her unencumbered by clothing, so one might just assume that the segment is clearly inappropriate.
However, the fact of the matter is, the segment itself is actually not bad at all. Well, content wise that depends on your opinion of Perry's music, but she's not actually wearing anything that shocking or close to obscene. What she is wearing is about on the level of a figure skating costume, but a bit longer. Yeah, there's some skin, but no really shocking amounts, and while the laws of physics mean that a scene involving running has some predictable results, it's nothing a kid who has seen their mother jogging hasn't seen.
Of course, if Michelle Kwan had showed up on Sesame Street in her skating attire and done a segment about showing Elmo how to do a triple salchow, there would have been no objection, even though there would be much more skin showing. The problem here isn't what is being shown, and it has nothing to do with the segment itself. In fact, I actually doubt most of the people complaining even have watched the entire segment, the name Katy Perry alone likely induced rage enough to spark a flurry of "think of the children" moments and angry letters. She could have dressed as a particularly modest nun and the segment would likely still be lambasted as being too sexy for children.
Perry has embraced her - how shall I put this - considerable assets when marketing herself and her music. As mentioned before, her album cover isn't exactly modest, and her videos are far from tame. She knows she's attractive, and she's not afraid to flaunt it to get a few more album sales and single rotations. Unfortunately, as a result of this she's going to get scrutiny from people who just can't believe she can tone down her act for a kids show. She might have gone much more modest and changed the lyrics, but people are assuming she's still putting it all out there, so to speak, and as a result we should think of the children.
The children don't care, to be honest. If they would watch the segment, they'd see a woman who just wants to play with Elmo, nothing more. The parents at home would recognize her and the basic song, but the kids themselves would be mostly doing whatever kids do. They wouldn't be scarred for life because an attractive woman is wearing a dress that isn't actually that bad, and even if you don't like the song plenty of kids music is quite terrible anyway, so it's hardly a step down.
The segment isn't being pulled for being too hot for a kids show, it's being pulled because people can't get over their own hangups, and watch it for what it is. It's a segment on a kids show that has run parodies of Law and Order and Mad Men - two shows young kids also shouldn't be watching - in an effort to amuse the parents who are home with the kids. This is no different from that, and should not have been pulled.
