British satirical puppet show Spitting Image is the latest show to face an online mob after it revealed that climate activist Greta Thunberg will be one of the puppets featured in its new series that debuts on October 3rd.
The series was one of the most-watched British shows of the 1980s and 1990s and notable for the way it took aim at public figures. It was canceled in 1996 but is due to return this October on BritBox and has been using its Twitter account to reveal the puppets that will feature in its new series throughout September.
But after posting its Thunberg reveal, many Twitter users expressed their contempt for the puppet and argued that the depiction of Thunberg – a public figure who has made numerous high profile statements on various issues and been named Time Magazine’s 2019 Person of the Year – should be off-limits because she’s “a young woman with autism.”
Interestingly, it’s rarely argued that coverage of Thunberg should be off-limits when she gains media attention in support of her statements on topics such as climate change, calling for a digital strike, or calling for Facebook to censor content.
In fact, when internet users do question why Thunberg is gaining so much favorable media coverage and being invited to coronavirus town halls, despite having no expertise in science or medicine, these questions are dismissed as “phony online outrage.”
