I don’t think the P in PBS stands for “porn,” but for a brief time on Sunday, it did. PBS’ YouTube account got hacked yesterday afternoon, and for a full 20 minutes, naïve youngsters were exposed to the birds and the bees as unsuspecting parents dropped their kids off in front of the computer.
(MORE: Sesame Street – 50 Best Websites 2010)
The YouTube channel was infiltrated with explicit sex videos in place of the more child-friendly and innocent Muppets, and it took a bit for Google to realize the violation—20 minutes–before they took the channel offline briefly. It was replaced with a message that it had been shut down “due to repeated or severe violations of our community guidelines,” reports CNN.
Before the channel was taken down, a message posted on the channel placed the blame on two YouTube, though it’s unclear if they actually are responsible. One of those YouTubers under the username “MrEdxwx” denied any involvement.
“I did not hack Sesame Street. I am an honest YouTuber. I work hard to make quality gameplay videos, and most important I respect the community guidelines,” he posted. Whatever his involvement, I’m sure Mom and Dad still have a lot of explaining to do.
MORE: Sesame Street Spoofs Glee in Pitch-Perfect Parody
[via CNN]
Erica Ho is a reporter at TIME. Find her on Twitter at @ericamho and Google+. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.