Did Neutering Of USAID Push Sesame Street’s Nonprofit Into Turmoil

The nonprofit behind children’s show “Sesame Street,” Sesame Workshop, revealed in an internal memo to staff this week its plans to “downsize significantly,” including layoffs, due to what its CEO described as “current economic challenges inherent to the drastically changing media landscape.” 

Washington Post explained that the layoffs at Sesame Workshop came shortly after those workers unionized and Warner Bros Discovery nixed a deal to renew the distribution of new episodes. 

In a memo to staff on Tuesday, Sesame Workshop President and CEO Sherrie Rollins Westin warned about the urgent need to “downsize significantly.” 

Thank you for your attention earlier. I know there is a lot to take in and I wanted to offer a recap of what we covered.

First, I want to underscore my gratitude for the enormous contributions each of you have made to our work and the impact Sesame Workshop has had on the lives of children and families around the world.

Unfortunately, Sesame Workshop is not immune to the current economic challenges inherent to the drastically changing media landscape. Combined with the end of our current distribution deal and the policy changes affecting our federal funding, we’re confronted with a perfect storm. These factors, among others, have left us with a significant budget gap that we must solve for as we head into the next fiscal year.

Given that our largest single expense is people and benefits, we must downsize significantly and make what we hope will be temporary changes to our benefits and bonus program. These changes are necessary to ensure that the Workshop is poised to continue to deliver on its mission for years to come, but that does not make the human impact of these reductions any less painful.

Tomorrow will be a fully remote day. US employees who are in roles that have been eliminated will receive a calendar invitation from HR no later than 9:30am for a meeting tomorrow with your department leader and an HR representative. All others will receive an email regarding a department meeting on Thursday.

We will have an All Staff meeting next Tuesday to share the new organizational structure and our plan to ensure the Workshop’s future ability to deliver on our mission.

These are big changes—for all of us as individuals, and for us as an organization. But what remains unchanged is the need for our mission, and our dedication to ensuring that Sesame will be here for children and families for decades to come.

Thank you. I remain grateful to each and every one of you.

Sherrie

Just one day after unionizing, Sesame Workshop’s CEO announced layoffs, per a note to staff shared with me https://t.co/2sLyC0HC9h pic.twitter.com/iICVm4tDG5

— Max Tani (@maxwelltani) March 5, 2025

Besides blaming Warner Bros. for Elmo’s downfall, Sherrie pointed to “policy changes affecting our federal funding.” We suspect this may be due to DOGE’s neutering of USAID.

Sesame Workshop Funding Per Agency

It appears that Sesame Workshop functioned more as a propaganda arm for the government’s dirty tricks of statecraft, wielding soft power influence across the world’s youth.

If that’s the case, it would explain why Sesame Street went extremely far-left – targeting children with the woke mind virus.

This woke propaganda even ended up in the US.

On our Street, we celebrate inclusion, belonging, and freedom of authentic self-expression. Happy #PrideMonth to all the people in our neighborhoods! pic.twitter.com/4ErE22oCh4

— Sesame Street (@sesamestreet) June 12, 2023

Sesame Street has introduced a family with two gay dads for the first time https://t.co/JWnEcCSV0y pic.twitter.com/A7RBswl7Mf

— CNN (@CNN) June 26, 2021

Our street is home to friendship.
Our street is home to love.
Our street is home to everyone.
Happy #PrideMonth!
pic.twitter.com/NASdaRReeh

— Sesame Street (@sesamestreet) June 7, 2022

Bert and Ernie are gay, Sesame Street writer says: https://t.co/PXOhFP3YEt #abc15 pic.twitter.com/91gk5cBAr9

— ABC15 Arizona (@abc15) September 18, 2018

Keep in mind, this show is for 3yos…  

Yes, it’s true… the Deep State used Elmo to push an untested vaccine on children. #NeverForgetpic.twitter.com/mfRJPuR6FQ

— Wise Squirrel (@WiseSquirrel_) January 31, 2024

Taxpayers funded this brainwashing psychological operation against the youth.

Good riddance, Elmo.

Hunter Biden celebrating the pardon… pic.twitter.com/mMdwrVRtOz

— AB (@AB84) December 2, 2024

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