Is Bert from 'Sesame Street' an international terrorist?
That's the question dogging the bushy-browed Muppet after his face mysteriously appeared on posters of Osama bin Laden hoisted by pro-Taliban demonstrators in Bangladesh.
The image was captured in a photo distributed by Reuters news service and soon began making the rounds on the Internet, amusing some but angering Bert's owners at the Children's Television Workshop in New York.
The roots of Bert's bin Laden connection date back to 1995, when Filipino art student Dino Ignacio, now 27, launched a tongue-in-cheek 'Bert is Evil' Web site, http://www.
fractalcow.com/bert/bert.htm, showing doctored photos of the Muppet with everyone from Adolf Hitler to former basketball player Dennis Rodman.
Ignacio's creation spawned numerous imitators, including a site that added Bert to a photo of bin Laden. Protesters in Bangladesh might have downloaded that Bert-and-bin portrait from the Internet and used it to make their posters.
Barbara Kinney, a Reuters picture editor in Washington, said Bert's mug was indeed on the bin Laden posters.
Bert's creators at the Children's Television Workshop are not amused. On Wednesday, they issued a statement decrying the Muppet's unauthorized cameo.
'We're outraged that our characters would be used in this unfortunate and distasteful manner,' said a spokesperson. 'The people responsible for this should be ashamed.'
Ignacio likewise disavowed Bert's latest incarnation.
'I had nothing to do with this,' said Ignacio, now a student in San Francisco. 'That image was never on my site.'
But the Bert-is-evil theme has been adopted by others. Since Sept. 11, Ignacio has received a stream of doctored Bert photos via e-mail, including several showing Bert hiding in the rubble of the World Trade Center or running from the scene wearing a backpack.
'I haven't even updated my 'Bert is Evil' site since 1998,' Ignacio said. 'But sometimes when you create something and you want to move on, it creeps back and bites you.'
