The ‘Muppet History’ social media scandal is undeniably messy

A vague apology from social media accounts dedicated Jim Hensonpp The Muppet History has uncovered one of the most disturbing and scandalous situations to hit social media this year.

Through some digging, followers of the fan page were shocked to learn that behind the seemingly wholesome account were allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior with fans and rumors of attacks on other Muppet-themed accounts.

Created in October 2018 The history of the Muppets X/Twitter account (@HistoryMuppet) billed as a “fan site dedicated to continuing the spirit and silliness of Jim Henson,” the late puppeteer and animator who created the Muppets and birthed many of the characters seen on Sesame Street, including Elmo and Big Bird.

Husband-and-wife duo Joshua and Holly Gillespie run the account and share the responsibility of promoting Henson’s legendary work through fun facts, old clips from Henson’s shows, and the occasional meme.

As BroBible notes, Gillespies also drives one The history of the Muppets account on Instagram, where they have a following of almost 580,000 users (their Twitter profile has around 283,000).

On Monday, a lengthy apology was posted to the Instagram and X accounts The history of the Muppets.

While the words seemed genuine, they also lacked context and any mention of a direct crime committed by Gillespies.

“We wanted to take a moment to address some concerns that have arisen recently,” the message begins. “Before we dive into these issues, we thank you for your continued support and encouragement. We acknowledge that we are human and have made mistakes in the past.”

Noting that they are always open to personal growth and knowledge through “understanding and grace,” they continued to offer words of acknowledgment — but never really admitted anything.

“We offer our sincere apologies to those whom we have harmed, either through this platform or personal platforms,” ​​the message later reads.

“There’s been a series where friend and viewer boundaries through messaging have been crossed. In building this community, we’ve been overly protective and confused other fans’ accounts for competition. To the people (we) made uncomfortable by these actions, we have only ourselves to blame and ask for your forgiveness.”

Without mentioning anything wrong with their apology, fans of The history of the Muppets accounts began searching on their own to uncover what was not said.

Within hours, fans discovered screenshots of an alleged email from Joshua Gillespie to a woman named Megan, apologizing for making inappropriate comments to her.

“I apologize if my messages of playful flirtation went too far,” the email reads in part. “It was never my intention to make you uncomfortable.”

Megan, who appears to run another Muppet-related account on Instagram, can be seen commenting on the email through captions from her Instagram Story.

“NEVER ONCE have I ever said anything that would give any indication that it was appropriate, funny for me, or encouraged to talk to me that way,” her response reads.

In another screenshot, Megan texts Joshua’s wife, Holly, to inform her of her husband’s nefarious actions.

As the day went on, other screenshots from Megan’s Instagram DMs began to appear on social media timelines, revealing that Joshua was a “serial harasser of women.”

In a picture from Megan’s Instagram profile (@malonespops), a user thanks her for sharing her truth about Joshua and admits that they too are a victim.

“Thank you for using your voice to speak out about the Joshua/Muppet story,” the DM reads.

“I was one of his targets myself and it was super scary for me because I felt so alone and so scared to talk about it. I was worried no one would believe me.”

Another person tells Megan that Gillespie has been sending them and three other people they know “sexual jokes”.

“I’m trying to find out how many people have been affected by this,” they say.

In another caption over the screenshot, Megan says she will continue to use her platform to expose Joshua’s dirty deeds.

“Whether it was sexual assault or abuse or bullying of people in the (Muppet) community, I’m not going to let him reduce it to nothing,” she says.

In the hours and days following Gillespie’s joint statement, neither the Muppet History Instagram account nor the X account have been updated.

Likewise, posts from Gillispie’s personal social media accounts have also ceased.

In one of recent tweets posted from Joshua’s personal X account, Holly assures fans that her husband is “safe.”

“Thank you all for your concern,” it says.