New Sesame Street Character Accused of Promoting Old, New Muslim Stereotypes

Producers of Sesame Street are under fire by Islamic and human rights groups who claim a new character on the childrens' program promotes both old and brand new Muslim stereotypes.

Introduced last week, Kaboom raised eyebrows during his first episode when he claimed that the Holocaust is a myth, insisting to Snuffaluffagus and celebrity guest Maggie Gyllenhaal that it is a fabrication designed to elicit sympathy for Jews and advance Israel's Zionist agenda.

Kaboom went on to refer to Jews as 'rats', and Americans as 'groveling slaves of rats'.

Calling Kaboom's anti-Semitism, 'neither here nor there', Sesame Street Executive Producer Ruth Myers also defended the new character's penchant for explosives, which he has used on the show to blow up a nest of baby birds and the grave of Elmo's uncle who died serving in Iraq.

"Similar to Cookie Monster's love for cookies, Kaboom likes being destructive, and he gets punished for it, which serves as an educational model for children about the consequences of unruly behavior," remarked Myers, "For example, when Kaboom crashed a car full of dynamite into Grover's lab, he had to spend the rest of the episode chained to a wall."

Dismissing claims by producers that Kaboom's religious background is incidental to his proclivity for committing acts of horrific, indiscriminate violence, critics have also complained about Kaboom's representation of less common and heretofore unheard of Muslim stereotypes.

Groused Emile Trabelsi of the Islamic Association of America: "This Kaboom eats piles of dirt like it is food, washes himself with a dead cat, and is boastfully illiterate, proclaiming that every letter of the day is for 'jihad' regardless of what the letter actually is."

"I honestly still don't know what the problem is," Myers responded.