Rosita is a

Muppet The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an surreal humor, absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential humor, self-referential style of Variety show, variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are ...

character on the

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

''. Fluent in both

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...

and

Mexican Spanish Mexican Spanish ( es, español mexicano) is the variety of Dialect, dialects and Sociolect, sociolects of the Spanish language spoken in Mexican territory. Mexico has the largest number of Spanish speakers, with more than twice as many as in a ...

, she is the first regular

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

Muppet on the show. Rosita comes from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and likes to play the

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

History

Rosita was originally designed to look similar to a

fruit bat Megabats constitute the family Pteropodidae of the order Chiroptera (bats). They are also called fruit bats, Old World fruit bats, or—especially the genera ''Acerodon'' and ''Pteropus''—flying foxes. They are the only member of the sup ...

and bore the name Rosita, La Monstrua de las Cuevas ("the monster of the caves"). Her wings were removed in 2004 (in the show's 35th season), but reinstated in 2021 (in the show’s 52nd season). She wears a ribbon in her hair, but in deference to Zoe she only wears one instead of two. Rosita was introduced to the series in 1991. Rosita is performed by

Carmen Osbahr Carmen Osbahr-Vertiz (born April 21, 1962) is a Mexican-born American puppeteer, singer and voice actress who has performed Rosita in the popular hit children's series ''Sesame Street'', since 1991. Osbahr has also performed Kiki Flores in '' T ...

, who originally worked on Mexico's ''

Plaza Sésamo ''Plaza Sésamo'' ( en, Sesame Plaza) is one of the first international co-productions of the first preschool television program ''Sesame Street''. Its first season premiered in México in 1972, and the last season ended in 2018 during the ho ...

''. In July 2022, Sesame Place in Pennsylvania faced criticism after a family claimed in an

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

post that the character snubbed their two young Black children by ignoring them as they waved to her. The video went viral as other users posted similar incidents of costumed characters and black children at the park, with those on social media calling for a boycott of the park. The park released a statement that the costume had made it difficult for the performer to see the girls. They later followed with another statement that the performer had not intentionally snubbed the girls, but instead rejected a request "from someone in the crowd who asked Rosita to hold their child for a photo which is not permitted." On July 19, Sesame Place Pennsylvania formally apologized to the family and invited the family back for a personal meet-and-greet with the characters. They also announced that their employees will undergo racial bias training to ensure park guests have an "inclusive, equitable and entertaining" experience.

International programs

Rosita appeared on Barrio Sésamo: Monstruos Supersanos in July and August 2012.

Appearances

March 3, 2004: Rosita,

Elmo Elmo is a red Muppet monster character on the long-running PBS/ HBO children's television show ''Sesame Street''. A furry red monster who has a falsetto voice and illeism, he hosts the last full five-minute segment (fifteen minutes prio ...

, Zoe,

Big Bird Big Bird is a Muppet character designed by Jim Henson and built by Kermit Love for the long-running children's television show ''Sesame Street''. An eight-foot two-inch (249 cm) tall bright yellow anthropomorphic bird, he can roller skat ...

and purple AM Monster appear on ''

The West Wing ''The West Wing'' is an American serial (radio and television), serial political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the ...

''. April 24, 2004: Rosita,

, Zoe,

Grover Grover is a blue Muppet character on the popular PBS/HBO children's television show ''Sesame Street''. Self-described as lovable, cute and furry, he is a blue monster who rarely uses contractions when he speaks or sings. Grover was originall ...

Cookie Monster Cookie Monster is a blue Muppet character on the long-running PBS/ HBO children's television show ''Sesame Street.'' In a song in 2004, and later in an interview in 2017, Cookie Monster revealed his real name as "Sid". He is best known for hi ...

Phoebe and Elephant on Hollywood Hits Broadway Benefit Gala November 4, 2005:

, Grover, Telly, Rosita and a Muppet Turkey on Emeril Live. May 3, 2008: Rosita on The Early Show May 4, 2008: Rosita on Good Morning America May 15, 2008: Rosita on Tell Me More July 4, 2009: Elmo, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, Rosita, and Abby Cadabby on A Capitol Fourth November 9, 2009: Elmo and Rosita on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon December 3, 2009: Elmo, Rosita and Cookie Monster on The Tyra Show September 20, 2011: Elmo, Grover, Rosita, Cookie Monster, Oscar, and Slimey on Good Morning America September 19, 2012: Elmo, Big Bird, Murray, Grover, Bert, Abby, Rosita, Oscar, and Cookie Monster on Good Morning America January 28, 2013: Rosita,

Grundgetta The Muppets are a group of puppet characters created by Jim Henson, many for the purpose of appearing on the children's television program ''Sesame Street''. Some of the best known Muppets on ''Sesame Street'' include Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch ...

, Herry,

Alan Muraoka Alan Muraoka (born August 10, 1962) is a Japanese American actor and director who plays Alan, the current owner of Hooper's Store, on the television show ''Sesame Street'' since 1998. He currently serves on the board of directors at thBayard Rusti ...

Bob McGrath Robert Emmett McGrath (June 13, 1932 – December 4, 2022) was an American actor, musician, and children's author best known for playing original human character and music teacher Bob Johnson on the long-running educational television series ' ...

Roscoe Orman Roscoe Hunter Orman (born June 11, 1944) is an American actor, writer, artist and child advocate, best known for playing Gordon Robinson, one of the central human characters on ''Sesame Street''. Early life and career While a student at New Y ...

Sonia Manzano Sonia Manzano (born 1950) is an American actress, screenwriter, author, singer and songwriter. She is best known for playing Maria on ''Sesame Street'' from 1971 to 2015. She received a Lifetime Achievement Daytime Emmy Award in 2016. Her memo ...

, and Alison Bartlett O'Reilly, at From Broadway With Love: A Benefit Concert for Sandy Hook May 10, 2013: Rosita,

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...

, Telly and Armando on ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...

''. September 13, 2013: Elmo, Grover, Abby Cadabby, Rosita, Cookie Monster, Murray, The Count, and Big Bird on Good Morning America December 11–14, 2014: Elmo, Grover, Rosita, Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, The Count, Abby and guest star Santino Fontana at Mormon Tabernacle Choir January 15, 2016: Ernie, Telly, Abby, Rosita, Elmo and Carol-Lynn Parente on Good Morning America April 17, 2016: Elmo, Rosita, and Oscar the Grouch on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver May 1, 2016: Elmo and Rosita at Daytime Emmy Awards January 5, 2017: Big Bird, Elmo, Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster, Abby Cadabby, The Count, Rosita and Grover on Today January 10, 2017: Abby Cadabby, Rosita and Telly at SiriusXM October 6, 2017: Big Bird, Rosita and Abby Cadabby on Good Morning America October 6, 2017: Elmo, Rosita and Abby Cadabby on Today November 8, 2017: Alan Muraoka, Rosemarie Truglio, Elmo, Abby, Zoe, Big Bird, Telly, Count von Count, Rosita, Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie on Today July 4, 2019: Big Bird, Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Rosita, Ernie and Bert on A Capitol Fourth October 21, 2019: Elmo, Abby, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Rosita, Ernie, Bert, Oscar, Grover, and the Count on Today

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosita (Sesame Street Fictional bats Fictional monsters Fictional Mexican people Mexico in fiction Sesame Street Muppet characters Television characters introduced in 1991 American female characters in television