A Teletubby is "outed"
A preacher, a purple children's character and a handbag: how Tinky Winky became the "gay Teletubby" in 1999.
On 9 February 1999, the televangelist Jerry Falwell issued a statement that would soon cause heads to shake around the world. It was prompted by an article in his magazine, the "National Liberty Journal". Under the headline "Parents Alert: Tinky Winky Comes Out of the Closet", the paper warned parents about a purple character from the British children's programme "Teletubbies".
The evidence was thin. Tinky Winky spoke with a boy's voice but carried a handbag. He was purple, the colour of gay pride. And his antenna was shaped like a triangle, a symbol of the gay movement. Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority, considered all this intentional. In his statement he wrote that, as a Christian, he believed that role-modelling the gay lifestyle was damaging to the moral lives of children.
The reply came promptly. A spokesman for the American licensee made clear that the alleged handbag was a magic bag. That hardly made the character gay; after all, this was a programme for toddlers. Falwell was misusing something harmless for his political ends.
The preacher was no stranger to such battles. Two years earlier, he had urged large companies not to sponsor an episode of the sitcom "Ellen" in which the main character came out as a lesbian. This time, however, it backfired. Newspapers, comedians and letter writers made fun of the "gay Teletubby". For many gay men, Tinky Winky had long been a cult figure anyway.
That was not quite the end of it. Eight years later, Poland's children's ombudswoman announced that she would have psychologists examine whether the character promoted homosexuality. Shortly afterwards she backtracked. Tinky Winky remained what he had always been: a purple creature with a screen in its tummy and a bag full of surprises.