March 23, 2021
Gay Puppeteer Shares the Buzz on L-G-Bee-T-Q Kids' Show Character
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Out puppeteer Jonathan Kidder talked Busy the Bee - a potential LGBT character on Netflix series "Waffles + Mochi," featuring Michelle Obama and bringing "dry, gay sass" to the show i, n an interview with Daily Beast.
"No one is saying Busy... is an actual gay bee," Daily Beast said. Kidder seemed to have little doubt explaining, "I got the sense they liked how I brought this diversity to the mix... I let the character be colorful, and let my rainbow out through him."
Kidder noted if there were such representation on kids' television when he was young, "I would have really valued having a character that felt like I felt inside. That was maybe a little more flamboyant. But male. Maybe a bit more sassy. Also, a dude.
"Then learning the person who played that character was an out, proud gay man, that would have been amazing to encounter as a kid," he added.
Asked about what conservatives might think of Busy as a (presumably) gay bee on a kids' show, Kidder gave no ground.
"We get concerned about conservative people, like, 'oh, no. We don't want to upset such a large part of the audience,' " he told the Daily Beast. "What about the children? What about innocent children who are not having reality affirmed? Who are going to grow up like me, fiercely codependent...a false self?
"That is a very, bad thing. Let's stop worrying about conservative views....start dealing with young, innocent human beings who need to be accepted for who they are."
In addition to being a puppeteer, Kidder "moonlights as one-man party entertainment at weddings and receptions," Daily Beast article noted. Among his party characters are "Miss Fuego, a 7-foot-tall bird puppet that encourages attendees to dance" and a shirtless, Tarot-card reading merman.
"At the suggestion that any of this is strange – or anything but fabulous – he says, 'What? You don't have a silicone merman tail in your closet?' "
"Waffles + Mochi" is "the first scripted offering" from the Obamas' production company, Higher Ground, Daily Beast noted.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
