Bert Is Evil

The "Bert Is Evil" phenomenon originated on March 30, 1997, when Filipino-American artist Dino Ignacio launched a parody website as part of his larger site called "Fractal Cow" (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025). Ignacio was a Fine Arts student at the University of the Philippines who created the website as a way to practice his digital art skills and make his friends laugh, heavily influenced by Weekly World News and "Mr. T Ate My Balls" (Ignacio, 2022).

The website featured manipulated images of the beloved Sesame Street character Bert inserted into historical moments of infamy and alongside notorious figures. These doctored photographs depicted Bert consorting with figures such as Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong-il, Robert Mugabe, and Osama bin Laden, as well as being present at events such as the JFK assassination and Oklahoma City bombing, humorously offered as "proof" that Bert was no mere innocent children's television character (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025).

In 1998, Dino Ignacio, along with collaborators Wout Reinders and Jasper Hulshoff Pol, accepted the Webby Award and the People's Voice Award for Best Weird Website at the Palace of Fine Arts auditorium in San Francisco (Know Your Meme, 2024). Initially, the Children's Television Workshop was understanding about the parody, with Ignacio noting that he "heard from some people from the Children's Television Workshop in the early days. They had no problem with the site and found it funny" (Meeks, 2024).

In the summer of 1998, due to the website's immense cult popularity, it became too expensive for Ignacio to continue running. Instead of shutting the site down, he offered to allow anyone who was willing to mirror his original website the opportunity to host it (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025). As a result, dozens of mirrors appeared, increasing the website's popularity and visibility. The first mirror, maintained by Dennis Pozniak, continued in the same vein by adding new "evidence" of Bert's evilness, such as Bert's connection to the Ramsey Family and serial killer Jack the Ripper (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025).

At the end of 1998, Pozniak posted a contribution submitted by humorist J-Roen, digitally manipulated to depict the then relatively unknown international terrorist Osama bin Laden posing with Bert (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025). This particular image would later become the center of international controversy.

In October 2001, after the September 11 attacks, an undoctored Reuters news photograph was published showing a pro-Osama bin Laden protest rally in Bangladesh. One protester was seen holding a large collage-style poster of bin Laden with a small image of Bert over his right shoulder – the same image posted to the Bert mirror in 1998 (Know Your Meme, 2024). According to BBC News, the posters were printed and sold by the local Dhaka shop Azad Products, who used the same image from Ignacio's "Bert is Evil" website. The company sold almost 2,000 copies of the posters during the street demonstration over the US military strikes in Afghanistan (Know Your Meme, 2024).

This incident broke across CNN, Fox News, NPR, Reuters, and AP, making this the first time an internet artifact hit mainstream media (Ignacio, 2022). Sesame Workshop released an official statement condemning the unauthorized use: "Sesame Street has always stood for mutual respect and understanding. We're outraged that our characters would be used in this unfortunate and distasteful manner" (CNN, 2001).

After this photo was released on the news wires, Sesame Workshop raised the possibility of pursuing legal action against Ignacio. In response, he took down the "Bert is Evil" section of his website due to Sesame Workshop's DMCA takedown notice, also stating that he did not want to undermine the character in the eyes of children who watched Sesame Street (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025). Ignacio explained his decision: "I am doing this because I feel this has gotten too close to reality and I choose to be responsible enough to stop it right here" (Wikipedia Contributors, 2025).

Despite its controversial conclusion, "Bert Is Evil" remains a foundational example of early internet meme culture, demonstrating how digital content can evolve beyond its creator's control and intersect unexpectedly with real-world events.