‘Sesame Street’ debuts its first Filipino-American Muppet named TJ
‘Sesame Street’ debuts its first Filipino-American Muppet named TJ, who appeared in a segment about the importance of trust
- A Filipino-American Muppet has been added to Sesame Street in a new episode
- The new character, TJ, was introduced in a segment alongside Kal Penn
The children’s show Sesame Street introduced its first Filipino-American Muppet on Sunday.
In a segment about what it means to be confident, the new Muppet TJ explained that his family’s support gave him confidence in learning to speak the Filipino dialect of Tagalog.
TJ appeared alongside Ji-Young, a Korean-American character introduced on a 2021 Thanksgiving episode, and the human character Kal Penn, a former White House staffer in the Obama administration and actor
Sesame Street has aired on PBS since its debut in 1969, and a number of characters have been featured on the show over the years.
Children’s show Sesame Street introduced its first Filipino-American Muppet on Sunday. The new character, TJ, is depicted
TJ (left) appeared alongside Ji-Young (right), a Korean-American character introduced on a 2021 Thanksgiving episode, and the human character Kal Penn (center)
During Sunday’s segment, TJ was introduced in a scene where Penn discusses the idea of trust, explaining where it comes from and how it can be strengthened.
“Confidence is when you believe in yourself and your abilities,” Penn said in the episode. “When I’m insecure about myself, I know I have people who support me and believe in me.”
Ji-Young then strummed her guitar and said that playing the instrument gave her confidence.
“TJ, how do you show your confidence?” Penn asked the new character.
‘I’m learning Tagalog. It is a language my Filipino family speaks. And I’m confident because I can always ask my lola for help if I don’t know a word,” TJ replied, using the Tagalog word for grandmother.
TJ was the idea of Filipino-American animation director Bobby Pontillas, who shared a post on Instagram explaining how he came up with the character and showing how he evolved.
“For its look, I based it on the kids of my lifelong friends, Max and Mateo, thanks for the inspiration guys. I was lucky enough to work with master puppeteer Louis Mitchell, the sweetest person on earth,” he wrote.
TJ was the idea of Filipino-American animation director Bobby Pontillas
Sesame Street has aired on PBS since its debut in 1969, and a number of characters have been featured on the show over the years
In recent years, the creators of the show, Sesame Workshop, have added a number of characters – in 2021 it introduced Elijah Walker and his son Wes – African-American characters.
Rosemary Espina Palacios, Sesame Workshop’s director of talent outreach, inclusivity, and content development, who is of Filipino descent, also posted to Instagram to celebrate TJ’s arrival.
“I’m so proud to be able to help bring some Filipino representation to the neighborhood, and just in time for API Heritage Month to show the reach in our diaspora,” she wrote.
“His first segment with @kalpenn and Ji-Young is all about confidence, which is something I personally think can help unravel the model minority stereotype,” she added.
T.J. is played by voice actor and puppeteer Yinan Shentu.