The folks over at Sesame Street have invited STX studios, the company behind ‘Happytime Murders’ to come and play… in court. TMZ is reporting that the company behind the hardcore puppet mystery starring Melissa McCarthy is unlawfully using the Sesame Street brand to promote their film.
The main issue seems to surround the combination of the film’s puppet cast and the marketing tagline “NO SESAME. ALL STREET”. Combine that with the drug use, violence, and extreme ejaculation featured in the trailer, and Sesame Workshop says that the film could confuse fans by thinking that the flick is somehow connected to the long-standing PBS series. The complaint goes further to state that STX has no right to use the term “Sesame Street,” but it actually seems like that complaint could be a dead end. Technically speaking, “NO SESAME. ALL STREET” isn’t the same as “Sesame Street.”
They are suing for Damages and for STX to drop the tagline from their marketing. As a side note, Sesame Street was created by Muppet creator, Jim Henson. His son Steve is directing the Happytime Murders.