Latest news with #TheMuppets
News18
3 days ago
- General
- News18
US Woman Slams Child's Head Into Window After ‘Miss Piggy' Comment On Flight
Last Updated: The 46-year-old from Hagerstown, Maryland, allegedly got aggressive after a child made fun of her appearance. A US woman allegedly hit a child during a flight from Orlando, Florida, to Hagerstown, Maryland. The incident reportedly happened on Memorial Day, May 26, onboard an Allegiant Airlines flight. The woman, identified as 46-year-old Kristy Crampton from Hagerstown, Maryland, allegedly became aggressive after a child made fun of her appearance. She now faces child abuse charges. The pilot of the flight contacted law enforcement to report a 'disturbance" on board. When the flight landed at Sanford Airport, police arrived to investigate. By that time, Crampton and the others in her group had already left the plane and were seen walking away from the gate. Police say the group had 'voluntarily" deplaned before officers arrived. According to a police report reviewed by People, Crampton was later detained by Sanford Airport Police and now faces child abuse charges. She appeared in court earlier this week in connection with the incident. Speaking with police, Crampton reportedly admitted to striking the child. She told officers that the boy had insulted her by calling her 'fat" and referring to her as 'Miss Piggy," a character from The Muppets. She described the child's behaviour as 'very rude" and 'disrespectful." She also said that she first tried to discipline the child by taking away their phone. This made the child angry. 'He pushed her arm off of the armrest twice before she responded by smacking him," the police said. Crampton also admitted to using physical force after the child allegedly continued to misbehave. Witnesses on board the flight told police that Crampton hit the child with her fist and a water bottle. One witness said, 'The woman was not correcting the child. She was abusing [them], whipping the s** out of the kid." According to the police report, Crampton also allegedly 'slammed" the child's head into the window during the assault. The child reportedly tried to protect himself by covering his head during the attack. Flight attendants said they did not witness the altercation directly. Authorities confirmed that drugs or alcohol were not involved in the incident. The exact age of the child has not been released. It is also unclear what Crampton's exact relationship is to the child although the report states they were travelling together as part of a group visiting Disney World. Crampton was released on May 27, on a $10,000 (approximately Rs 8.5 lakh) bond. As part of her release conditions, she was ordered not to reach out to the child for the time being.
New York Post
28-05-2025
- New York Post
Passenger arrested for ‘smacking' boy who called her ‘fat' and ‘Miss Piggy' on flight home from Disney trip: police
A female passenger has been charged with child abuse for attacking a child who had called her 'fat' and 'Miss Piggy' on a flight home from Disney World, according to airport police. Although the exact relationship between Kristy Crampton and the boy was not clear, they were part of a group returning home to Maryland from their Disney trip when she was arrested Monday at Sanford-Orlando International Airport, according to an airport police report obtained by WFTV. 4 Kristy Crampton has been charged with child abuse for attacking a child who had called her 'fat' and 'Miss Piggy' on a flight home from Disney World, according to airport police. WFTV Advertisement Crampton started swinging at the child just before takeoff when he told Krampton she was too fat to sit in her seat, witnesses told police. She punched him and then hit him with a water bottle — before slamming the child's head into the airplane window as he tried to block her blows, airport police said in their report. The pilot called police for help, and Crampton was taken into custody at the gate. Advertisement Crampton told police the child was 'very rude' and 'disrespectful' during their Disney trip. 4 Crampton started swinging at the child just before takeoff when he told Krampton she was too fat to sit in her seat, witnesses told police. Sanford Airport Police After the child called her 'fat' on the plane, Crampton took his phone away — then started 'smacking' him when he twice shoved her arm off her armrest, she told cops. However, a witness told police that 'the woman was not correcting the child; she was abusing him.' Advertisement 4 The pilot called police for help, and Crampton was taken into custody at the gate. WFTV 4 Crampton was compared to Miss Piggy from 'The Muppets.' ABC Their relationship was not immediately clear, and the family declined to provide statements to police, WFTV said. Crampton was charged with felony child abuse. She appeared in Seminole County court Tuesday, where a judge granted her release on a $10,000 bond. She was ordered to have no contact with the child.
Chicago Tribune
06-05-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Man on trial for ‘21 Merrillville hotel slaying
A trial opened Monday for a former North Carolina man charged in a Merrillville hotel murder. Barry 'Blu' Billingsley, 45, of Merrillville, is charged with murder, aggravated battery and a gun enhancement in the Oct. 2, 2021, shooting death of Anthony Gibbs, 36, of Highland. He has pleaded not guilty. Deputy Prosecutor Maureen Koonce — with co-counsel Judy Massa — told jurors in opening statements Monday that it was a 'senseless killing' by Billingsley, who was 'quick to anger' and 'eager to kill.' He fired four times, killing Gibbs with a shot to the face, Koonce said. He was later arrested in a traffic stop with a distinctive jean jacket and a baseball cap with the character Animal from The Muppets. The video showed he had the gun in a pocket when he opened fire. The jean jacket had a hold in it and tested positive for gun residue, she said. Defense lawyer Casey McCloskey — representing Billingsley with attorney Sonya Scott-Dix — declined to make an opening statement to jurors. Police were called to the Economy Inn, 8275 Louisiana St., and found Gibbs 'unresponsive' around 6 p.m. on the sidewalk outside, shot in the face and leg, according to court documents. His girlfriend was sitting on stairs nearby, shot in the foot, the affidavit states. Her pit bull was also wounded in the leg. The case has been rescheduled or delayed several times with lawyers clashing in legal filings and various unsuccessful motions to throw out the case. Judge Gina Jones declared a mistrial in January after a lawyer had a medical emergency. The trial continues this week.
Business Insider
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Insider
'SNL' roasts Trump for posting an AI image of himself as the pope
"Saturday Night Live" wasted no time skewering an AI-generated image of Donald Trump dressed as the pope that was shared by the White House and the president. In the segment "weekend updates," SNL star Colin Jost mocked the image, which depicted the president wearing ornate white papal robes, saying Trump was apparently "ordering a one-way ticket to hell." Jost added, "Who posts a photo of themselves dressed like a guy who died a week ago?" Trump attended Pope Francis' funeral, the 266th head of the Roman Catholic Church, on April 26. On Saturday, Trump and the White House posted an AI-generated image to Instagram. Jost also took a swipe at Vice President JD Vance, a catholic convert, saying if Trump seriously wants to be the pope, "he should stay away from JD Vance." Vance met Pope Francis the day before his death. Jost jokingly added that Trump must have walked past the open casket and thought, "Oh, we should do a 'who wore it best?'" The comedian ended by condemning the picture, saying, "Trump's photo just feels slightly disrespectful." On Tuesday, on Tuesday, Trump was asked by reporters if he had anyone in mind to be the next pope, to which he jokingly responded: "I'd like to be pope; that would be my number one choice." SNL wasn't alone in taking aim at Trump's AI image. The New York State Catholic Conference condemned the post on : "There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President." "We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter. Do not mock us," the group added. Conservative commentator Bill Kristol, and former chief of staff to the vice president during the Bush administration, asked Vance on X if he was "fine with this disrespect and mocking of the Holy Father?" Vance hit back, replying to the post, "As a general rule, I'm fine with people telling jokes and not fine with people starting stupid wars that kill thousands of my countrymen." Elmo turned over to ICE SNL continued its satire during its "cold-open" segment, referring to Trump's 100 days in office. Trump, played by James Austin Johnson, bragged that "it's been 100 since I've been president" and signed around 147 executive orders, from "banning paper straws to defunding PBS." Johnson joked that Elmo, a character from "The Muppets," had been handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement because "L stands for El Salvador." He also joked, "Recession will now be called 'recess.' Fun, right?… America, get ready for a historically long recess!" The White House did not immediately respond to a Business Insider request for comment.
Daily Mirror
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
'I worked on The Muppets and Sesame Street - there's one children's show today that I love'
You might not recognise her name, but you'll know her work as we talk to award-winning children's television writer and producer Jocelyn Stevenson, the creative behind The Muppets and Sesame Street The name Jocelyn Stevenson might not be instantly recognisable but the iconic children's TV shows she helped to create are a different matter. From Pingu to Barney and Friends and The Magic School Bus to Sesame Street, the acclaimed writer and producer began her career Stateside, when she was employed by legendary puppeteer Jim Henson to write several Muppets-based children's books. Jocelyn went onto co-create Fraggle Rock for Henson and other UK TV shows she had a hand in include Funny Bones, Bob the Builder and Thomas & Friends. In 2015, the British-American received a BAFTA Special Award for her outstanding contribution to children's media and back across the pond, she is an Emmy Award winner too. Now, the talented writer, who was born in Chicago and lives in the UK, has authored her own pair of children's books with the first, The Waterubas: Book 1, currently on sale. "I wanted a big idea and what could be bigger than water, which connects everything?" said Jocelyn, who turned to an old friend, Brian Froud, to bring her characters to life. "Waterubas aren't creatures that live in the water, they are water – huge difference! Kids will go with you where grown ups never would." To celebrate the book's release, The Mirror sat down with the esteemed producer to chat all things Jim Henson and find out her view on children's television today... Jim Henson Jocelyn calls her former boss and mentor Henson, who died unexpectedly of pneumonia in 1990 at the age of 53, 'a creative mentor' and 'a genius'. "He was my mate," she added. "He was supportive and he was funny. "He'd watch something that we just made and he'd be staring at the screen and then he'd go: 'That's so goofy it's worthy of us'. He was magic. I remember having a discussion with him about some idea I had and he just said to me: 'Why are you trying to go to the Moon? If you shoot for Jupiter then you'll get on the Moon'. "It's just that kind of creative leadership he had. He was also really good at putting people together who didn't have any idea why they were together, and then suddenly you'd start working together and go ohhhh... He was the most extraordinary person and also he was a person who was the CEO of the company but he was a creative and that was huge. "One time out of frustration I said to him: 'Why do you never tell us we've done a good job?'," Jocelyn added. "He said: 'Why do I need to do that? Of course you're doing a good job otherwise you wouldn't be here'." Fraggle Rock The hit musical fantasy comedy series Fraggle Rock featured interconnected societies of Muppet creatures, most notably the Fraggles themselves. "Jim, being Jim Henson, had said: 'I think we need to design a show that'll help stop war' to the small team of us who were developing it," Jocelyn smiled. "I mean who thinks like that? Geri Jewell who was working on it too, he'd been the head writer of The Muppet Show and an old colleague of Jim's, he joked: 'Do you want that by Thursday?' But it informed everything. This whole idea of these three species who didn't know anything about each other but they lived in the same world. "Sesame Street was very American, set on a New York street, while in Fraggle Rock there would be that little bit at the beginning which in the UK was Doc and Sprocket (the elderly inventor and his canine best friend). It was different in every country and then the middle bit which was the bulk of the show would be puppets, which would be easy to dub." The Magic School Bus The incredible popularity of many of the kids' TV shows Jocelyn worked on means people still come up to her saying: "You were my childhood". One such iconic series was The Magic School Bus, an animated series which sees an eccentric teacher take her class on incredible educational field trips. "If the kids were learning about plants the school bus would shrink and they'd go inside a plant," recalled the writer, who adapted the script from the book series by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen. "When we did the reboot for Netflix (in 2017), voiced by Lily Tomlin, we were getting in touch with scientists and they'd say: 'Wait a minute - The Magic School Bus? I'm a scientist because of The Magic School Bus!' "We had no idea how big it was at the time and it's so exciting. It's that kind of influence you realise that this kind of work can have." The perfect programme "There's no magic formula for creating a successful kids' TV show," Jocelyn explained. "Executives think there is and that can sometimes be based on previous success. "What do kids need? That's the question that I always ask. What is this program trying to say to kids? Is it just trying to sell toys? "I really understand we have to make money in order to make our shows but Jim Henson used to say: 'If you do good work the money will come'. When I worked on Sesame Street back in 1973, that's when it was quite new and they were still trying to figure out if TV could actually educate children. "Everything was researched - what is it that kids need? It's all that thinking I like to see behind something. Is it authentic? Is it not derivative, is it something different? That's hard." And when it comes to watching children's television today, Jocelyn has one key rule. "I don't trust myself to judge a TV show for kids on my own," she said. "My granddaughter, who is now about 10, used to live down the road from us and I would watch TV with her and it made all the difference. "It was with her that I first watched Peppa Pig and realised how good Peppa Pig was. I like programmes like Bluey that break expectations." The Waterubas "I started reading to my kids when they were three months old," said Jocelyn. "They've grown up and are readers and their kids are readers. I just think it's really important." The writer penned Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock books as well as annuals for The Muppet Show. In 1988 she wrote a book called O Diddy, written by an imaginary friend whose human had stopped seeing him and her second original book is The Waterubas. Made up of 99 per cent water and 1 per cent Ruba, each Wateruba has its own special colour and sings in its own special tone. There are 81 Waterubas, who can be hard to spot because they never stop moving and came to Earth together on an asteroid four billion years ago. Iriam is the book's main character and has the ability to "puddle-jump", meaning she can travel at speed as water to a Wateruba anywhere on the planet. As the 11-year-old schoolgirl transitions from a puddle to a cloud and from a raindrop to an ice-cube, she learns fears are carried in the stories we tell ourselves - and that crucially, we can rewrite them.
