114: Did Fraggle Rock Do an Episode About AIDS?

”Gone But Not Forgotten” (February 16, 1987)

Surprise! We’re back! And we brought Fraggles with us!

In the final season of Fraggle Rock, the episode “Gone But Not Forgotten” features Wembley making a new friend in Mudwell the Mudbunny, who knows he will soon die. Mudwell’s passing and Wembley’s grief serve as not only a general life lesson for young viewers but also a parallel for the life of Richard Hunt, the openly gay Mupetteer who voices Mudwell, who lost his own partner to AIDS not long before this episode was filmed and who would die as a result of AIDS not long after. Matt Baume, queer sailor of the pop culture seas, joins us to discuss how Fraggle Rock goes deeper than you might expect.

Watch Matt’s videos

• Richard Hunt, the gay man behind the Muppets

• Star Trek's First Gay Ship-Mates? The Star-Crossed Romance of Garak & Bashir

• What Makes Disney Villains So Gay?

• Rocko’s Modern Life: Cartoons Coming Out of the Closet

• Plus there’s more on his YouTube channel and even more on his Patreon

Also watch the video for Ben Folds’ “Do It Anyway” — featuring the Fraggles!

Watch Jim Henson’s memorial service, in which Richard Hunt makes a prescient speech.