They need to invent more fake celebrities like Hatsune Miku and Gorillaz and the Muppets because it's genuinely the most sustainable way to maintain a parasocial relationship with the entertainer class.
Kermit the Frog can never get canceled because Kermit the Frog has no agency or personhood beyond what he is imbued with by the collective labor of puppeteers, voice actors, singers, and writers. He is, along with these other examples, effectively a celebrity by gestalt. He has transcended the inherit instability of the celebrity class through diffusion of responsibility for his personhood. He is a god.
Kids, you have not lived until you have seen Big Bird in person. He wasn't even animate at the time -- there is just one of the Big Bird suits on display at the Museum of Puppetry Arts in Atlanta.
All I can say is, they have him behind glass for a reason. I imagine they have to clean it frequently as all of the kids and some of the adults immediately hurl themselves towards him and leave prints on the glass. He is so Big, and Feathery, and Yellow. He is many things that start with capital letters, and also an embodiment of pure love. I wanted to fling myself into his Feathery Yellow Embrace. I teared up. He is so beautiful. You have to go visit him.
my partner and I once spent a long road trip trying to figure out if there is any public figure who is universally positively seen by everyone. the only real candidates were David Attenborough and Kermit.
