Did "The Muppets" Push An Anti-Oil Agenda? Kermit Says No.

• Scott Detrow
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  Scott Detrow is a congressional correspondent for NPR. He also co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast.
  
  Detrow joined NPR in 2015 to cover the presidential election. He focused on the Republican side of the 2016 race, spending time on the campaign trail with Donald Trump, and also reported on the election's technology and data angles.
  
  Detrow worked as a statehouse reporter for member stations WITF in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and KQED in San Francisco, California. He has also covered energy policy for NPR's StateImpact project, where his reports on Pennsylvania's hydraulic fracturing boom won a DuPont-Columbia and national Edward R. Murrow Award in 2013.

We cover a lot of complicated, serious issues here at StateImpact Pennsylvania, so when there’s a chance to write about both energy and the Muppets, we’re going to take it.
The plot of The Muppets, you may recall, centered around oil tycoon Tex Richman’s attempt to buy the Muppet Studios so he could tear them down and drill for oil on the property. Faced with the possibility of losing their venue, the Muppets stage a telethon in order to raise enough money to stave off Richman’s takeover.
Fox Business Channel commentator Eric Bolling didn’t like the “oil drillers as bad guy” plot line, and called it “class warfare.”

The Muppets recently held a London press conference to promote the movie’s European release, where Kermit responded to Bolling’s take. “They were concerned about us having some prejudice against oil companies,” said the frog, “and I can tell you that’s categorically not true.” Co-star Miss Piggy, who has a bit of a confrontational track record, followed up on Kermit’s comment with a  poke at Fox News.
Here’s the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Y8YhED4IgQA#!
 

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