Cookie Monster beat up

Father takes down one of the most lovable Muppets

By Christopher Allan Smith     June 22, 2001
Source: AP

C was not for cookie, but for calamity when a man supposedly beat up a Cookie Monster at the Sesame Place theme park in Pennsylvania. According to an AP report, Lee P. McPhatter (yes, that's a real name) treated a Cookie Monster mascot to a little chin-music when the person in the character's costume refused to take a picture with McPhatter's little girl.

"People started yelling at me that I should be ashamed of myself for hitting Cookie Monster. I did not kick or punch Cookie Monster. The cop did not want to hear my side of the story, and I got arrested," said McPhatter in the AP report.

According to the police report, McPhatter gave Jennie McNelis, the person in the Cookie costume, bruised ribs and a cervical sprain (whatever that is).

"Why would someone take their 3-year-old daughter to the park and attack Cookie Monster?" McPhatter said, claiming he didn't attack the beloved Muppet. "I would never do that in front of my daughter."