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If you've used Google in the last week you've likely noticed the Sesame Street theme as the famous children's show celebrates its 40th anniversary. For four decades, Muppets have been teaching your kids how to count and stretch dysfunctional relationships such as that between Bert and Ernie out for four decades.

And while the show is iconic and has entertained and educated generations, don't be fooled into thinking it's all sunshine and Tickle Me Elmos. There's a dark side to Sesame Street, too. Bad things have happened over those four decades and we're not afraid to to stand up and say so.

5. Cookie Monster Was Neutered
 Back in the day, Cookie Monster was probably the coolest part of Sesame Street because he was manic, insatiable and close to incoherent.

Dude just loved cookies, even when he pulled out the pipe and did Monsterpiece Theater. He wasn't restrained by social norms, he was laid back like Big Bird, and he didn't care about his friends like Ernie. He just wanted cookies. And then, one day, producers squashed him like a bug.

In the interests of kids living healthy lifestyles it was decided Cookie Monster needed to supplement his diet with things like "crunch vegetables" and "fruit." This in turn implies someone, somewhere, thought Cookie Monster was influencing the eating habits of children in a bad way. Presumably wild, parentless children being raised by wolves in electronics stores with nothing but Sesame Street to teach them what to eat.



4. Gordon Takes Kids Home
The humans on Sesame Street have always been a little weird; they seem quite unimpressed to live on a block mostly peopled by shaggy, talking animals and assorted other freaks of nature. Mostly they seem harmless, though. Mostly. The exception to this rule is Gordon who, in the show's very first episode, met a strange little girl on the street and decided to do what any responsible adult would do: take her home.

Sure, it's all innocent and warm on the surface. Sesame Street is a safe place and all. But if someone thinks Cookie Monster eating cookies is dangerous for kids, how bad is teaching them to go home with a stranger for milk and cookies?

3. May Cause ADD
Children and goldfish seem to have similar attention spans, but at some point this fact was blamed on Sesame Street. Because of the quick segments on the show, some people have claimed that Sesame Street has actually allowed conditions like ADHD to flourish, appealing to the short attention spans and inability to pay attention that many children with the condition have, possibly even causing it. Now maybe that was never proven scientifically or anything, but someone thought it at least, and that has to count for something.

2. Oscar the Grouch Glorified Homelessness
One of the most recognizable characters from Sesame Street is Oscar the Grouch. What child wouldn't love a cantankerous green monster that lives in trash?

Honestly, kids do love him, even though modern producers admit that today they'd never introduce a character like him because he's too abrasive. Lord knows your dumpster denizens should be a little milder.

That aside, Oscar lives in a trash can. You can say he's not homeless, but that kind of defines homeless. He's telling kids that people who live in dumpsters may be a little rough around the edges, but they're hilarious too! For 40 years, no one has found Oscar a suitable place to live because the character actually loves trash, an affectation not fully prevalent in actual homeless people.
1. Snuffleupagus Linked to Drug Use and Child Abuse
Aloysius Snuffleupagus was some kind of slightly depressing mammoth that wandered about Sesame Street whenever Big Bird was all alone. For years Big Bird was the only one who ever saw the elephant and no one believed he existed.

Out in the real world, Snuffy was meant to signify the existence of imaginary friends and that as all fine and good, until other realities came crashing down on the shoulders of the Muppets on the street. Critics decided that Snuffy was a hallucination that invited kids to try their own mind-altering substances so they too could have an awesome imaginary friend.

Worse though, and the reason Snuffy was finally introduced to the other characters on the show in the mid-80s, was a fear of child predators. Because Big Bird was telling the truth but no one believed him, producers felt they were setting up kids who had been abused to fear they too would not be believed if they told.

Still not convinced this beloved show has a dark side? Let us know why in the comments.