`Teletubbies' Character Is Gay Symbol, Says Falwell

ROANOKE, Va. - Is Tinky Winky gay?

The Rev. Jerry Falwell suspects so, telling parents that the purple "Teletubbies" character from the popular children's television show is a homosexual role model.

Under a headline that reads "Parents Alert: Tinky Winky Comes Out of the Closet," an article in the February edition of the National Liberty Journal notes that Tinky Winky has the voice of a boy yet carries a purse.

"He is purple - the gay-pride color; and his antenna is shaped like a triangle - the gay-pride symbol," the story said. The paper is edited and published by Falwell.

Falwell contends the "subtle depictions" are intentional and in a statement issued yesterday said, "As a Christian I feel that role modeling the gay lifestyle is damaging to the moral lives of children."

A spokesman for Itsy Bitsy Entertainment, which licenses the Teletubbies in the United States, said that what Falwell's newspaper described as a purse is actually Tinky Winky's magic bag.

"The fact that he carries a magic bag doesn't make him gay," Steve Rice said. "It's a children's show, folks. To think we would be putting sexual innuendo in a children's show is kind of outlandish."

The British show aimed at toddlers began airing on U.S. public television stations last spring and is now as popular as Barney, a singing dinosaur who also happens to be purple.

Rice said Falwell was attacking "something sweet and innocent" to further his conservative political agenda. "To out a Teletubby in a preschool show is kind of sad on his part. I really find it absurd and kind of offensive," he said.

Falwell's spokeswoman, Laura Swickard, said the founder of the now-defunct Moral Majority agreed with everything that was in the NLJ article and would not comment beyond his one-paragraph statement.

In 1997, Falwell urged General Motors, Chrysler and Johnson & Johnson to withdraw their sponsorship of an episode of the sitcom "Ellen" when the lead character announced her homosexuality.