Satirically transmitted disease

PBS fires host, protects kids from satire

By L.c.

Published July 25, 2006 7:31PM (EDT)

Melanie Martinez, host of PBS Kids Sprout's "The Good Night Show," was fired last week after network officials learned about her PSA-spoofing "Technical Virgin" videos (see the one below), which recommend that teen girls avoid the temptations of sex -- and the dangers of pregnancy -- by going anal. The videos are classics from 1999 and have recently enjoyed a revival on YouTube.

For the nearsighted (and, yes, anal) PBS, the content of the videos overshadows their tone, not to mention their irrelevance to Martinez's audience. Presumably, toddlers who are typing "virgin" and "anal" into Internet searches (and who grasp adult language and irony well enough to get what a "technical virgin" is) have already graduated to "South Park."


By L.c.

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