Editing Big Bird (section)

==Use of Big Bird in the 2012 US presidential election==
During the [[United States presidential election debates, 2012|first presidential debate]] on October 3, 2012, [[Mitt Romney]] used Big Bird as an example of spending cuts he would make to reduce the federal budget deficit. Romney told the moderator, [[Jim Lehrer]], "I like PBS, I love Big Bird. Actually like you, too. But I'm not going to – I'm not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for. That's number one."<ref>{{cite news|title=Transcript of Wednesday's presidential debate|date=October 4, 2012|publisher=Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.|url=http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/03/politics/debate-transcript/index.html|work=CNN Politics|access-date=October 10, 2012}}</ref>

[[Barack Obama]]’s campaign later released a satirical advertisement in which Romney described Big Bird as an "evil genius" and "a menace to our economy", and depicted Romney as more concerned with cracking down on Big Bird than on white collar criminals such as [[Bernard Madoff|Bernie Madoff]] and [[Ken Lay]].<ref>{{Cite news|first=Beth|last=Fouhy|title=Big Bird flies high in 2012 presidential campaign|date=October 10, 2012|url=http://www.freep.com/article/20121010/NEWS15/121010013/Big-Bird-flies-high-2012-presidential-campaign|work=[[Detroit Free Press]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006143437/http://www.freep.com/article/20121010/NEWS15/121010013/Big-Bird-flies-high-2012-presidential-campaign|archive-date=October 6, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Sesame Workshop]] subsequently asked that both campaigns remove ''Sesame Street'' characters from campaign materials, stating on their website: "Sesame Workshop is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization and we do not endorse candidates or participate in political campaigns."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sesame Workshop Response to Campaign Ads|url=http://www.sesameworkshop.org/our-blog/2012/10/09/sesame-workshop-response-to-campaign-ads/|website=Sesame Workshop|date=October 9, 2012|access-date=October 10, 2012|archive-date=October 10, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010232319/http://www.sesameworkshop.org/our-blog/2012/10/09/sesame-workshop-response-to-campaign-ads/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In response to the mention in the debates, Big Bird made an appearance in a 2012 [[Weekend Update]] segment on [[Saturday Night Live]] with then host [[Seth Meyers]]. During the interview, Big Bird joked about how he suddenly "felt famous" after being mentioned in the debates, but refused to make any political statements as to not "ruffle any feathers."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dv3tLVxng0 | title=Weekend Update: Big Bird on Mitt Romney Ending PBS' Subsidy - SNL | website=[[YouTube]] | date=September 17, 2013 }}</ref>

{{Tweet
| name = Big Bird
| username = BigBird
| date = 6 Nov 2021
| text = I got the COVID-19 vaccine today! My wing is feeling a little sore, but it'll give my body an extra protective boost that keeps me and others healthy.

Ms. 
@EricaRHill
 even said I’ve been getting vaccines since I was a little bird. I had no idea!
| ID = 1456971880666046465
}}