Lawsuit over Melissa McCarthy's Happytime Murders

The makers of Sesame Street have launched legal action against a new ‘filthy comedy’ movie featuring sleazy puppets having sex and taking drugs.

Trailers for the Melissa McCarthy film Happytime Murders have the tagline: ‘No Sesame. All Street.’

Sesame Workshop says this tarnishes their brand and confuses people into thinking the movie is linked to their educational kids’ show.

They filed a lawsuit against the film's producers, STX Productions, in New York, saying they want to stop  the defendants' ‘deliberate choice to invoke and commercially misappropriate Sesame's name and goodwill’.

Happytime Murders is set in the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles where puppets and humans coexist, with McCarthy playing a detective investigating a string of murders.

The trailer features one puppet offering to suck McCarthy’s dick for 50 cents, before being told she doesn’t have a dick, and a sex scene showing another puppet ejaculating profusely.

Rated R, for over-18s only, the film is directed by Brian Henson, son of the late Jim Henson, who helped develop Sesame Street characters. Brian previously directed  The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Islands

STX said: ‘While we're disappointed that Sesame Street does not share in the fun, we are confident in our legal position.’

Here’s one of the trailers

Published: 27 May 2018