‘Sesame Street’ CEO Apologizes for ‘Misunderstandings’ About Cast Changes
Michael Stewart/Getty Images
Days after news broke that “Sesame Street” is parting ways with longtime cast members Bob McGrath, Emilio Delgado and Roscoe Orman, Sesame Workshop CEO Jeff Dunn Tuesday night posted a message on Facebook to address any “misunderstandings” about the future of the beloved program and its cast, adding that meetings with the three will take place to discuss their future involvement.
“We apologize for the misunderstandings around the changing cast roles at Sesame Street,” he wrote. “Over more than 40 seasons, Bob McGrath, Emilio Delgado and Roscoe Orman have made enormous contributions to both television and to the lives of preschoolers. They are, and always will be, a key part of the Sesame family.”
A statement last week from Sesame Workshop said the three veteran actors would “continue to represent us at public events,” but fans still took to social media to voice their concerns.
This most recent statement from Dunn continued, “As always, our curriculum and educational goals drive our story lines and character appearances. These change season-to-season. In 2014, when we first began producing the current half-hour show format, we let all of our cast members know of the shorter story lines and, therefore, reduced appearances.”
This season, he added, the stories do not include the three actors and “we certainly could have done a better job of communicating with them about our ongoing episode plans.”
“I have been in touch with each of them to meet in person about how we best adapt their talents to the current content needs and preschool media landscape, in a way that honors their historic contributions,” he said. “We are very grateful for the many loyal fans of Sesame who continue to care so deeply about the show and what it means to them.”
“Sesame Street” switched to HBO from PBS earlier this year after more than five decades at their old home. It was also cut to 30 minutes from an hour.
