Sesame Street Introduces 1st Asian Puppet

Popular children's show "Sesame Street" introduced its first-ever Asian puppet early this week, Al Ain reported on Wednesday.

The new puppet is a Korean-American girl and called Ji-Young. She was presented to the whole world through Twitter; she featured in the promotion of the upcoming special holiday sequels.

It added: “Join us this Thanksgiving as the gang welcomes Sesame Street’s newest resident, 7-year-old Korean-American girl Ji-Young!” the statement revealed.

https://twitter.com/sesamestreet/status/1460246694570958852

The upcoming special episode will be streamed on Facebook, Youtube, and a number of US famous networks on November 25th on the occasion of this year's Thanksgiving that has been celebrated for centuries nationwide.

Korean puppeteer Kathleen Kim who stands behind the new puppet, Ji Young, joined the team of Sesame Street workshops in 2014.

She aimed to introduce such a Korean-American character who is creative, and intelligent to stop the rise of the anti-Asian discourse that emerged in the US since the beginning of the pandemic.

“I feel like I have a lot of weight that maybe I’m putting on myself to teach these lessons and to be this representative that I did not have as a kid,” Kim said in an interview cited by the Associated Press on Monday.

Regarding the puppet name's meaning, the Korean artist explained: "So, in Korean traditionally the two syllables they each mean something different and Ji means, like, smart or wise. And Young means, like, brave or courageous and strong,” continuing, “But we were looking it up and guess what? Ji also means sesame.”