Sesame Street announces Ji-Young, the first Asian American muppet

AP

The 7-year-old Korean American muppet Ji-Young, voiced by Kathleen Kim, is making history as the first Asian American muppet in the Sesame Street canon. Ji-Young will make her debut in See Us Coming Together: A Sesame Street Special, featuring celebrities of Asian descent including Simu Liu, Padma Lakshmi and Naomi Osaka. The special drops on HBO Max, PBS stations and social media platforms on Thanksgiving Day. “I feel like I have a lot of weight that maybe I’m putting on myself to teach these lessons and to be this representative that I did not have as a kid,” says the 41-year-old Kim, who got into puppeteering in her 30s. Ji-Young was created in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death and anti-Asian hate incidents.