Kathleen Kim set a new accessory standard for red-carpet events with her ingenuous Sesame Street bag. Kim is a voice actor and puppeteer, best known for puppeteering the muppets Ji-Young and Elena on Sesame Street. When Ji-Young made her Sesame Street debut in the 2021 Thanksgiving special, “See Us Coming Together,” she made history as the first Asian-American muppet in the show’s 52-year history. Even though the show never had an Asian-American muppet, Kim does recall the show having Asian representation as early as 1970 with the “Two Little Girls in a Dollhouse” segment. The show later inspired her to pursue a career in children’s television.
In 2014, a Sesame Street workshop turned into her being called back to work on set as a puppeteer multiple times. By 2021, the Asian American Foundation had reached out to Sesame Street about addressing increasing racism and hatred towards Asians. Hence, “See Us Coming Together” was born to celebrate Asian culture and address racism. Not only was Kim chosen to perform as Ji-Young, but she also gave her input in creating the character to ensure authenticity.
Since then, Kim has gained quite a bit of recognition for her performance as a beloved Sesame Street muppet and has been raising awareness for Asian-American representation and puppeteering, as well as promoting the show. Most recently, she was invited to attend Gold House’s Gold Gala, and her accessory game was on point.
Kathleen Kim made the perfect muppet accessory
In a TikTok video that Kim filmed while waiting for her Uber to the event, she showed off her muppet accessory. Kim explained that she was a little concerned that not everyone would know who she was since she’s always a puppet onscreen. To give the other attendees a hint, she created a purse from Sesame Street puppet parts. The adorable little purse was designed to look just like the face of a muppet, and Kim named her little furry plus-one Phyllis. The video goes on to show Kim rocking her muppet purse while posing on the Gold Gala red carpet.
The Gold Gala is just one of many initiatives that Gold House has taken on to further its goal of unifying the Asian American and Pacific Islander community (AAPI). This was the second year that the Gold Gala was held to celebrate the achievements of trailblazers in the Asian community. Another initiative the Gold House has taken on is to formalize a book club that strives to “help APIs better understand their identity, experience, and culture in today’s political and social climate.” The organization was only founded in 2018 but is gaining traction with the tremendous work it is doing to create unity and opportunities in the AAPI community.
The film and TV industry still has much work to do in Asian representation, but with trailblazers like Kim and events like the Gold Gala to highlight the achievements of the community, progress is being made. Less than two years after Kim and Ji-Young brought the first Korean-American muppet to Sesame Street, the show also debuted its first Filipino muppet, TJ, portrayed by puppeteer Yinan Shentu. Ji-Young will also continue appearing on the show as a regular, meaning we’ll continue to see more of Kim’s work in the future. The only unfortunate thing about that is that she may not have time to mass-produce her muppet purse, which we all want now.
(featured image: HBO)
