‘Fired Big Bird’ takes wing after Romney debate comment

The unemployment rate on Sesame Street may soon skyrocket. (Image by @FiredBigBird)

Picking the winner of the first Obama-Romney presidential event is a partisan endeavor, but a comment by the Republican candidate has one faux celebrity crying fowl.

Childhood friend to many, Big Bird, whose very livelihood was threatened in the Wednesday night debate, was quickly defended by a sharp-beaked anonymous tweeter.

“Somewhere Paul Ryan is kicking over trash cans in hopes of smoking out Oscar the Grouch,” tweeted @FiredBigBird shortly after Romney vowed to cut funding to PBS, the station that airs the puppet bird’s educational show “Sesame Street.”

Within minutes, the Twitter account had thousands of followers. FiredBigBird had more than 26,000 followers within 12 hours. Other Twitter users sent more than 17,000 tweets a minute mentioning Big Bird.

The imposter kept clucking.

“Mitt Romney will end Burt and Ernie’s right to a civil union.”

He even hinted at getting more politically active with a “Herman Cain / Big Bird 2016″ tweet.

Meanwhile, the real Sesame Street gang tried to put out the fire by tweeting, “We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization. We do not comment on campaigns, but we’re happy we can all agree that everyone likes Big Bird!”

Despite the protestations, I don’t think the 8-foot-2-inch puppet has to worry. He’s been around since 1969 and surely, after starring in thousands of television shows, he has a giant nest egg.

Here’s what Romney said at durring the debate.