Mitt Romney likes Big Bird – and so do lots of other people.
The Republican candidate pledged to cut funding to PBS, the station that airs the puppet bird’s educational show “Sesame Street,” during Wednesday’s debate with President Obama. PBS also happens to be the longtime network of Jim Lehrer, the debate moderator.
“I’m sorry, Jim, I’m going to stop the subsidy to PBS,” Romney explained. “I like PBS, I love Big Bird. I actually like you too.”
The topic sparked an outpouring of online discussion, with Twitter users posting 17,000 tweets per minute mentioning Big Bird.
In the hours following the debate, the user @FiredBigBird gained about 25,000 followers.
At one point, “Fired Big Bird” suggested a Herman Cain/Big Bird ticket for the 2016 election.
Popular doctored photos posted on the social networking site show a sullen Big Bird sitting on a stoop, holding a cardboard sign that reads “will work for food.” Other photos see the “Sesame Street” gang carrying weapons and Big Bird joining “Occupy Sesame Street,” conceivably to teach children the difference between the numbers 99 and 1.
With AP