Bert is Evil

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Bert is Evil is the name of a heavily mirrored web site, founded by Dino Ignacio, which featured Bert, a Muppet character on the American children's television program Sesame Street.

The website, 1998 Webby winner for best weird site, featured manipulated images of the puppet consorting with nefarious figures including Adolf Hitler and Jerry Springer, and present at tragedies such as the Hindenburg crash, humorously offered as "proof" that Bert was no mere innocent children's television character. The "Evil Bert" phenomenon was picked up by other humorists, who created their own images linking Bert to current and historical atrocities.

In 2001, an undoctored Reuters news photograph was published^[1] showing a pro-Osama bin Laden protest rally in Bangladesh. One protester is seen holding a large collage-style poster of bin Laden with a small image of Bert over his right shoulder, which prompted much confusion and joking among Western audiences. The original image of Osama bin Laden and Bert had been created using an image editing tool by humorist J-roen earlier and placed on a website, and the person who made the poster in Bangladesh copied it from the World Wide Web, leaving the image of Bert in his collage.^[2] However, the image did not come from Bert is Evil, as the site had been idle since 1998.^[3]

After this photo was released on the news wires, Ignacio took down the "Bert is Evil" section of his website, stating that he doesn't want to undermine the character in the eyes of children who watch Sesame Street. "I am doing this because I feel this has gotten too close to reality," he said. Despite Ignacio's request that no "mirrored" versions of the site remain on the Internet, copies of Bert is Evil can still be found online. The podcast Infected by Martin Sargent is currently showing the aftermath of the Bert is Evil fad with Martin Sargent playing Bert in a mock-interview. Two parts have been shown so far of the Evil Bert in two recent episodes of Infected. The interview ends with Bert demanding more booze from a woman in a maid outfit.

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^ http://www.mlcsmith.com/humor/bertsama/
^ For a detailed account of the use of the image, in South Asia as well as by Western news agencies, see [1]. This also argues against the notion that inclusion of the Bert image is some kind of coded communication. It is more likely that the protester did not know who Bert is.
^ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,36218,00.html