Big Bird Parody Account Announced He’s Running For Congress And Coming For Ted Cruz’s Neck

Source: STAN HONDA / Getty

A parody Big Bird account has launched an exploratory campaign for U.S. Senate to challenge Sen. Ted Cruz. Obviously, the Big Bird parody account can’t really run for office but the effort has set the internet on fire.

“Ted Cruz and Steve Bannon both supported overturning a free and fair election,” the Big Bird for Senate parody account tweeted. “I guess they were right when saying, birds of a feather flock together. Except this Bird does not stand with them.”

Ted Cruz and Steve Bannon both supported overturning a free and fair election. I guess they were right when saying, birds of a feather flock together.

Except this Bird does not stand with them.

— Big Bird for Senate (Parody) (@SenatorBigBird) November 12, 2021

Cruz attacked a post where the real Big Bird account announced it received a vaccination. Despite still being in the middle of an ongoing pandemic, he called the tweet “government propaganda” for kids. The parody account and others have taken shots at Cruz for infamously abandoning Texas for Cancun earlier this year when the power grid collapsed.

Since launching in the past week, parody Sesame Street accounts have popped up for several characters as campaign staffers. Cookie Monster came on board as the campaign manager and the Count is the finance director. Some Twitter users commented on the Cookie Monster account’s lack of the blue monster’s signature vernacular.

Bert and Ernie respectively serve as the communications and political directors for the mock campaign. Rosita is the policy director, and Elmo joins as a senior advisor.

This Friday, consider this. @SenatorBigBird gaining nearly 100k followers in less than a week says

A) People don’t like Ted Cruz.
B) People are invested in defeating Cruz
C) The above can and will be done.

This is a people powered movement, & we thank you for sharing your power

— Bert (Comms Director) (@CommsDirectBert) November 12, 2021

For those wondering about the Senate’s minimum age requirement, Big Bird has celebrated his sixth birthday multiple times since being first introduced in 1969. Big Bird ages like a Black aunty who insists she’s 25 for life.

MSNBC host Joy Reid got in on the fun Thursday during a segment about the parody account and right-wing attacks on the Muppet favorite and his friends.

“Texas deserves a Senator who people actually like, and just about everybody likes Big Bird because he’s nice and vaccinated,” Reid said. “Wait, maybe Big Bird can teach Ted how to be nice so people will like him too!”

One! I count one fantastic MSNBC host calling out crazy conservatives!@JoyAnnReid https://t.co/6wGCwPXowZ

— Count (Finance Director for Big Bird – Parody) (@FinDirectCount) November 13, 2021

Comedian and late-night host Stephen Colbert got in on the fun with a mock Sesame Street segment featuring a new word just for Ted Cruz.

Account creators remain a mystery but they told KXAN they were grateful for the outpouring of support.

The accounts popped up shortly after Cruz made crude remarks about the beloved children’s character sharing a post about getting vaccinated. Muppets have a history of public service informed outreach, like encouraging vaccinations. Muppet Wiki Twitter account shared a throwback clip of Big Bird getting vaccinated back in 1972.

Big Bird gets vaccinated, 1972 pic.twitter.com/M2mdmmjZ0N

— Muppet Wiki (@MuppetWiki) November 6, 2021