The archive / Film, TV and books
1999 · USA
Children’s show is promoting homosexuality!
The Teletubbies
Panic meter
The verdict
An American preacher warned that Tinky Winky was a hidden gay icon. Children saw a purple character with a handbag.
Reality meter
Blown overOverblown +2
What was said?
In February 1999, the televangelist Jerry Falwell's newspaper published a warning to parents: the Teletubby Tinky Winky was purple, had a triangle on his head and carried a handbag – and was therefore a covert gay role model for children.
The verdict: what happened next?
The producers replied that Tinky Winky was a Teletubby and that the bag was a bag. The warning became something of an international joke, and a byword for how absurd moral panics can get.
Teletubbies carried on being broadcast in more than 100 countries.
Comments 0