Recently the character of Rosita has been dragged through the mud due to some startling and disappointing actions taken by costumed characters at Sesame Place. Many things about those videos upset me, and one is the backlash against the actual puppet character of Rosita, with some calling to have her removed from the series as a whole, even though these actions had nothing to do with her or her puppeteer, Carmen Osbahr.
So I wanted to take a few moments here on ToughPigs to celebrate Rosita and her finest moments on Sesame Street, and remind people that the real version of her is a loving, nurturing, friendly character who has made a significant impact on the series over the past 31 years. In fact, she was one of the final characters for the show that Jim Henson had a small hand in creating before he passed away in 1990.
Rosita first appeared on Episode 2888 in Season 23, teaching Mr Hanford how to pronounce her full name, then telling some poor old lady about her family and friends, forcing her to jump up and down and run around Hoopers Store;
Since then she’s become a staple, of one the mainstays of the show, and one of the core group of girls, which is a place Sesame Street really shines. She has close friendships with Zoe, Abby Cadabby and Prairie Dawn, often singing painfully catchy songs with them that get stuck in your head for weeks;
Rosita is bilingual, speaking both her native Spanish and English. She was designed to be a way for young Latina children to see themselves mirrored on the show. She’s always been extremely proud of her heritage and culture, often singing about it in a mixture of English and Spanish.
Finally, Rosita is just a really good friend, no matter who you are. And that’s what I hope people remember – the actions of the person inside the Rosita walkaround character do not reflect the actions of the puppet character Rosita or anything puppeteer Carmen Osbahr has ever wanted to do with her. So enjoy these few final sketches as Rosita shows true friendship, and does a genuinely solid job holding her own in a comedic sketch with Grover.
Click here to celebrate Rosita on the ToughPigs forum!
By Jarrod Fairclough – Jarrod@ToughPigs.com
