In the early months of 2025, online users shared a story saying that officials in Mississippi — a U.S. state with a long history of civil and racial injustice — once refused to broadcast the children's educational TV program "Sesame Street" in 1970, specifically due to its multiracial human cast members.
In the weeks leading up to President Donald Trump's May 1, 2025, signing of an executive order instructing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to "cease federal funding for NPR and PBS," numerous users on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Threads and X discussed this decades-old matter. PBS continues to broadcast "Sesame Street" episodes today.
For example, one Bluesky user posted (archived) in April, "Mississippi refused to air Sesame Street in 1970 due to its mixed-race cast. The ban only lasted 22 days before widespread publicity if the matter caused them to reverse the ban. Back when public shame mattered."
(Adam (@impracticalfuture.bsky.social)/Bluesky)
According to newspaper archives hosted on Newspapers.com from the spring of 1970, this rumor was true — but it requires some context. At the time, Mississippi newspapers featured articles documenting quotes from unidentified state officials who said they allegedly supported airing "Sesame Street" but didn't want to approve the show for broadcast because its multiracial cast might lead some legislators to pull their support for the state's funding before its educational TV offering fully expanded statewide. The rejection (or "ban") lasted only slightly more than three weeks before the Mississippi Authority for Educational Television — the commission in charge of such matters — approved the show for air.
The following article presents the timeline of events documenting the journey of "Sesame Street" getting on the air in Mississippi. This story does not include comments from some named individuals either because no contact information could be located or because they were no longer living.
May 1, 1970: News breaks of show's 'ban'
"Sesame Street" premiered on Nov. 10, 1969. Aside from the Muppets — such as Big Bird, Bert, Ernie, Kermit the Frog and Cookie Monster — the human cast featured both Black and white adults and a multiracial group of children. Black cast members included Loretta Long, who portrayed Susan, and Matt Robinson, who played Gordon. White cast members Bob McGrath and Will Lee featured as Bob Johnson and Mr. Hooper, respectively.
On May 1, 1970, the Hattiesburg American newspaper of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, published a headline that read: "Program said banned from state ETV." The report, with attribution to The Associated Press, cited a dispatch from the Jackson, Mississippi, office of Louisiana newspaper The Times-Picayune and cited an unidentified commission member of the Mississippi Authority for Educational Television who reportedly said a 3-2 vote to reject the show was due to the idea that "mainly … we are not ready for it."
https://www.newspapers.com/article/hattiesburg-american/170083572/
Article from May 1, 1970 Hattiesburg American (Hattiesburg, Mississippi)
Elsewhere on May 1, the Delta Democrat-Times in Greenville, Mississippi, published an article, with attribution to United Press International, featuring reporting similar to that of AP, including the same quotes — though not citing The Times-Picayune or any other sources. The next day, a longer version of the initial UPI article — this time published in the Detroit Free Press — noted that "Mississippi's fledgling ETV system ran into problems getting funded the past couple of years" — another reference to financial difficulties regarding resistance from some members of the state's legislature.
Despite the Hattiesburg American citing The Times-Picayune as a source, The Times-Picayune did not publish any information about the development until May 4, according to a search of newspaper archives. The Advocate, a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, newspaper whose owners purchased The Times-Picayune in 2019, did not yet respond to a request asking for possible archival records regarding its dispatch from 1970. The newspaper's Jackson office closed in 1976.
May 2: Second report from AP
On May 2, The Greenville News newspaper of Greenville, Mississippi, published an article with the headline: "'Sesame Street' Video Series Blocked From Mississippi ETV." The report added further quotes from two unidentified commission members who reportedly said they feared that airing the show could possibly endanger plans to expand educational TV throughout the state. One member was said to have pointed out that some nationally televised programs already featured multiracial casts, while another reportedly said of the decision to not air the show: "This does not mean that we have banned the series, but only that now isn't the right time."
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-greenville-news/170085849/
Article from May 2, 1970 The Greenville News (Greenville, South Carolina)
The report added that "some observers said ETV officials have been cautious in selecting programs since several lawmakers had voiced objections to national educational network programs on grounds they promoted integration," as well as the fact that some areas of the state could already receive educational TV and "Sesame Street" from stations in neighboring Louisiana, Tennessee and Alabama.
Joan Ganz Conney, then the president of the Children's Television Workshop, reportedly said at the time: "I think it's a tragedy for the white and black children of Mississippi."
May 3: Reporting from MS Capitol correspondent
On May 3, 1970, Ed Williams, Capitol correspondent for Delta Democrat-Times in Greenville, Mississippi, wrote an article on the subject that was headlined: "'Sesame' showing would be blunder, officials say." Williams' reporting cited two members of the ETV commission who asked to remain unidentified. The quotes from the two members bore similarities to those of AP's reporting from May 2 and appeared to exist as paraphrases or simply repeated thoughts from the same sources.
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-delta-democrat-times/34823441/
Article from May 3, 1970 The Delta Democrat-Times (Greenville, Mississippi)
Williams noted two particular legislators' worries regarding the state's $5.3 million appropriation for the educational TV project, including one who spoke of Ford Foundation funding for "Sesame Street" and educational television, saying "it has been used for evil purposes."
Williams also cited commission members who allegedly said they did not oppose "Sesame Street," with one member reported as saying, "There's no question in my mind that it will be on ETV in Mississippi," then adding, "But right now I don't think one program is worth risking what we're trying to build in this ETV system. By not showing this program now, the only people we're depriving are the ones around Jackson. We won't have the statewide system set up until at least the fall of next year. We haven't banned Sesame Street—we just decided this isn't the proper time to put it on the air."
Seven members, all white, made up the educational TV commission, including its chairman, John McKay, Williams reported. The mention of the seven-member commission posed a question as to the 3-2 vote appearing in earlier reports. With seven members and only five votes, did two members abstain from voting? This part of the matter remained unclear.
Also on May 3, The New York Times reported that McKay's father-in-law, former Jackson Mayor Allen Thompson, served as president and leading spokesman for Freedom of Choice in the U.S., or FOCUS. A Jan. 31, 1970, article by The Daily Herald — a Biloxi, Mississippi, newspaper — with attribution to AP, described FOCUS as "an organization to work toward return to freedom of choice school desegregation."
In April 2025, Williams said via email that he did not recall any details about the nearly 55-year-old "Sesame Street" story. He did, however, remember the Delta Democrat-Times newspaper as one that "a lot of progressive Mississippians turned to with tips about stories that probably wouldn't appear in the racist Mississippi press." He also added: "As the DD-T's state capital correspondent I was the beneficiary of that practice, as were the capital reporters for the Memphis Commercial Appeal and the New Orleans Times-Picayune, who were dedicated to reporting the news, not protecting 'the Mississippi way of life.' I'd assume that if I had those quotes and nobody else did, it's because the people I quoted had confidence that I would not reveal their identities and would report their views accurately and in context. Or maybe somebody knew somebody who knew and trusted me."
On May 7, 1970, Jackson-based newspaper The Clarion-Ledger said Mississippi Gov. John Bell Williams had no opinion on the news about "Sesame Street" because he "[doesn't] know what it is."
On May 14, Robert McHugh, an associate editor for The Daily Herald, wrote: "According to TV Guide, Mississippi's educational television station in Jackson is the only one out of 190 in the nation that doesn't carry the singularly successful pre-school children's show, 'Sesame Street.'"
May 22: Commission announces 'Sesame Street' approved
On May 23, the Vicksburg Evening Post newspaper, based in Vicksburg, Mississippi, reported that the Mississippi Authority for Educational Television announced on the previous day, May 22, that it had approved the Jackson-based educational TV station to show "Sesame Street."
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-vicksburg-post/170089514/
Article from May 23, 1970 The Vicksburg Post (Vicksburg, Mississippi)
One columnist credited the commission with the decision and acknowledged the "countless parents, teachers and concerned citizens who protested the earlier short-sighted decision not to run the series."
Some of those concerned citizens included people living in other states. For example, one person named Harl. R. Douglas in Boulder, Colorado, said in a letter-to-the-editor message to Jackson-based newspaper The Clarion-Ledger that the refusal to run the show left them "puzzled" and "somewhat depressed." Another person, identified as Frankie Walton, a lecturer in English at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, wrote to The Clarion-Ledger: "It is time to stop sheltering white Mississippians from the reality of today and yesterday and tomorrow. It is time to stop determining what (or how much) they should (or should not) be exposed to as it relates to black people."
'Sesame Street' airs, FCC decision and 'no vote'
Jackson's educational TV station, WMAA-TV, aired "Sesame Street" for the very first time on June 8, 1970, according to TV listings published by The Clarion-Ledger.
https://www.newspapers.com/article/clarion-ledger/170090788/
Article from Jun 8, 1970 Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Mississippi)
On June 22, The Clarion-Ledger reported that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission informed WMAA-TV that it would take no action against the station regarding the prior omission of airing "Sesame Street." The article read, in part: "The FCC said that William R. Smith Jr., executive director of the station, submitted a statement of programming policy adopted by the board of directors of the Authority. Smith noted that while the matter of the program's integrated cast had been discussed, the program was not carried initially because of financial difficulties." Taking all of the reporting into account, Smith's reference to "financial difficulties" most likely pertained to troubles with establishing funding with the state's legislature and the delicate dance of holding on to such support.
Months later, on Sept. 7, the Delta Democrat-Times reported that the cast of "Sesame Street" performed at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson as part of a 14-city tour. The end of the article featured information that was not included in reporting from earlier in the year. In a brief description of the controversy and commission vote from the spring, UPI wrote: "Board officials contended there was no vote, either formally or informally, on not showing the program."
For further reading, Snopes has previously examined a rumor that Big Bird appears in colors other than yellow in international TV markets.