Countering anti-Asian hate, Sesame Street will have its first Asian American resident

Sesame Street's first Asian American muppet Ji-Young, left, with lovable Ernie.

Sesame Street has a big yellow bird, a long-haired mastodon, Black muppets, Latino muppets and dozens of muppets of every shade and hue, but it has never had an Asian American muppet. Until now.

The children's TV show will be introducing its newest resident, Ji-Young, a 7-year old Korean American muppet, on a Thanksgiving special.

The history-making muppet, Ji-Young, is the first Asian American muppet in the Sesame Street.  She is Korean American and has two passions: rocking out on her electric guitar and skateboarding, according to the Associated Press. 

Sesame Street, in its 52nd year, decided to fight the surge of anti-Asian hate by making Asian Americans more visible in its programming that included the production's first Asian American muppet.

Asian Americans have been on the show as guests, and one of Sesame Street's most prominent residents is Alan, owner of Hooper's Store. Alan is a Japanese American character, is played by Alan Muraoko.

RELATED: Sesame Street launches anti-bullying campaign

The Asian American muppet will be formally introduced in “See Us Coming Together: A Sesame Street Special.” Thanksgiving Day on HBO Max, social media platforms and on local PBS stations. Asian American celebrities Simu Liu, Padma Lakshmi and Naomi Osaka will be on hand to welcome Ji-Young during the special.

Ji-Young's personality is aided by puppeteer Kathleen Kim, 41. For Kim, it was crucial that Ji-Young not be a generic Asian representing all Asians.

“Because that’s something that all Asian Americans have experienced. They kind of want to lump us into this monolithic ‘Asian,’” Kim said. “So it was very important that she was specifically Korean American, not just like, generically Korean, but she was born here.”

One thing the new muppet will help teach its young viewers is how to be a good “upstander.” a term first used the term on Sesame Street's “The Power of We” TV special last year.

“Being an upstander means you point out things that are wrong or something that someone does or says that is based on their negative attitude towards the person because of the color of their skin or the language they speak or where they’re from,” says Kay Wilson Stallings, executive vice-president of Creative and Production for Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street.

“We want our audience to understand they can be upstanders,” she tells AP.

The fact that Ji-Young was created to counter the anti-Asian sentiment that has risen dramatically in the past 18 months makes her more special to puppeteer Kim in some ways.

“I remember like the Atlanta shootings and how terrifying that was for me,” Kim told AP. “My one hope, obviously, is to actually help teach what racism is, help teach kids to be able to recognize it and then speak out against it. But then my other hope for Ji-Young is that she just normalizes seeing different kinds of looking kids on TV.”