Sesame Street Introduces TJ the Filipino Muppet
Filipino-American animation director Bobby Pontillas created Sesame Street’s TJ—the Filipino muppet!
A new muppet made its debut on Sesame Street and he is Filipino! TJ the muppet was introduced in a segment with Kal Penn, Grover, and Ji-Young.
In the video, TJ answered how he gained confidence. He said, “I’m learning Tagalog. It’s a language my Filipino family speaks. And I have confidence because I can always ask my lola for help when I don’t know a word.”
Filipino-American animation director Bobby Pontillas created TJ for Sesame Street. He shared the details of the creation of the muppet on his Instagram.
“I had the amazing opportunity to work with the geniuses at the Sesame Workshop to create a Filipino muppet for @sesamestreet! Meet TJ!” he wrote.
“For his look, I based him off of my lifelong friends’ kids, Max and Mateo, thank you for the inspiration lads. I was blessed to collaborate with master puppeteer Louis Mitchell, the loveliest human on earth.”
Bobby gave his big salamat to Rosemary Espina Palacios of Sesame Street and Yinan Shintu for helping bring TJ to life.
TJ’s debut for AAPI month
TJ’s introduction on Sesame Street came in as Asian Americans celebrate Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the US. Back in 2021, the show introduced Ji-Young, a Korean-American muppet.
Through the years, Sesame Street has been introducing various muppets. In 2022, they launched a muppet named Ameera for their show in Africa and the Middle East.
Sesame Street also showcased Julia, a muppet with autism to create autism awareness in 2015.
More about Sesame Street:
Remembering Bob McGrath: The Man Who Introduced the People in the Neighborhood
Sesame Street Convinces Parents to Have Their Kids Vaccinated
