Variety Hates Elmo! (2/19/98)
Trade paper and paragon of grammar, Variety, recently gave an incredibly scathing review to "Elmopalooza!", fueling speculation amongst industry insiders that the ongoing feud between Elmo and the Hollywood power structure would not be ending anytime soon."Elmopalooza!", an hour-long special featuring music videos of various Sesame Street songs, was described by Variety as "woeful", "unfunny", and "insistently lighthearted". Elmo, on the other hand, proved himself to be the more well-read entity when he called the Variety staff "a bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first ones up against the wall when the revolution comes."
While this latest go-round, much like the Spago incident and the unfortunate brawl backstage at the Clio Awards, will undoubtedly spawn hundreds of column-inches of coverage, the question foremost in everyone's mind is, "Why?" Why can't these two industry giants get along?
The roots of the dispute stretch back years. Elmo was understandably miffed when Variety ripped off his whole "learning to rhyme" schtick for a series of increasingly incomprehensible front page headlines. Variety, for its part, still has lingering bitterness over the market failure of its "Tickle Me" edition, which predated the now infamous Elmo doll by several years.
"Elmopalooza" guest star and erstwhile host Jon Stewart could not be reached for comment, as he was busy working on whatever talk show he's hosting that hasn't been cancelled yet.
Whatever the true causes of this rift, we here at TMC NewsBreak hope it can be resolved soon. If there is anyone on this planet who could benefit from remedial doses of Sesame Street, it's the writing staff at Variety. Can't we all just get along?
