8 Insane Urban Legends About Famous TV Shows
8. Ernie From Sesame Street Was Set To Die
For all the lessons that kids TV shows attempt to teach kids, few (if any) tend to stray into the topic of death. Yet back in the early nineties there began a rumour that following the death of Jim Henson the loveable puppet Ernie from Sesame Street was to be killed off in an effort to educate children on the reality of mortality.
In fact, some insist that an episode of the show was indeed shot, but was never aired for fear of public outcry. It's reported that Ernie was to have died of a disease or in a car accident, as these two forms of demise are fairly common in the real world.
Some people were so incensed by this notion that in 1991 a college student named Michael Tabor from New Hampshire attempted to get fellow students to start wearing Save Ernie beanies, even going so far as to collect signatures for a Save Ernie petition. If there's any truth to the legend, you can understand why the show might shy away from airing such an episode, given the rather extreme reactions the rumour prompted from fans.