Sesame Street's Big Bird has conservative politicians and anti-vaxxers in the United States up in arms after the fictional character tweeted promoting the COVID-19 vaccine for kids.
The beloved puppet, who's been a fixture of children's television since 1969, tweeted on Sunday (local time) that he had received a shot of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The vaccine was only made available for American kids aged between five and 11 years old last week.
"I got the COVID-19 vaccine today! My wing is feeling a little sore, but it'll give my body an extra protective boost that keeps me and others healthy," said the Muppet.
"Ms. Erica Hill even said I've been getting vaccines since I was a little bird. I had no idea!"
The tweet from Big Bird even enticed a reaction from the US President Joe Biden who congratulated the muppet on getting the jab.
"Good on ya, BigBird," he wrote on Twitter. "Getting vaccinated is the best way to keep your whole neighborhood safe."
The tweet from Big Bird didn't go down well with Republican politicians and anti-vaxxers.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz criticised the Muppet with a series of tweets saying, "Government propaganda...for your 5 year old," the Senator said in one of his tweets.
Republican Senator for Arizona, Wendy Rogers, also hit out at the character, writing: "Big Bird is a communist."
Rogers followed that tweet up with another that said "kids need to be listening to Jesus, not Big Bird", while conservative activist Tom Fitton tweeted: "Leave our kids alone".
Fox News contributor Lisa Boothe accused the Muppet of "brainwashing children," while Newsmax host and former Trump adviser Steve Cortes slammed the announcement as "evil" propaganda.
Late night American TV show host Jimmy Kimmel came to the defense of Big Bird by criticising the Texas senator.
"This is how they think: if the government says it, it's propaganda," he said on Jimmy Kimmel Live. "If Congress does it, it's socialism. If the executive branch does it, it's fascism. If the president says it, he's a dictator. And if the media says it, it's fake news."
"Not only is Ted Cruz vaccinated himself, Ted Cruz was born with an immunity that protects him from contracting any friends.
"But I think the truth is maybe Ted's still sore about Big Bird's most recent book: Big Bird visits Cancún to find Ted Cruz's balls."
A lot of Twitter thanked Big Bird for doing his part to set a positive example for kids.
"Nothing sums up 2021 quite like the number of adults in the replies cursing out a fictional bird," one person tweeted.
"Big Bird is kind, compassionate, empathetic, loving, adored, and vaccinated. Ted Cruz is...vaccinated," Mary Trump, niece of former US President Donald Trump, tweeted.
Florida Senate candidate Mike Heavey pointed out that vaccine promotion by characters on TV wasn't new.
"In 1972, under a Republican President, Sesame Street, using Big Bird, was encouraging people to get vaccinated," wrote Mike Harvey, a Senate candidate for Florida.
"1972 we understood the power of working together against a common enemy, disease. Let's find our way back."
The United States is still battling COVID-19 with 54,841 cases reported on Monday and 592 deaths while the country has fully vaccinated around 58 percent of the total U.S. population.
