No, Mitt Romney Didn’t Cancel Sesame Street In Asheville

A campaign about Big Bird.

Image by Matt Sayles, File / AP

Twitter was set aflutter on Tuesday morning when a Ticketmaster page showing the cancellation of two showings of “Sesame Street Live: Can’t Stop Singing” in Asheville, N.C. were cancelled a day before a scheduled Mitt Romney stop at the U.S. Cellular Center.

Democrats seized on the apparent cancellation for Romney, noting it came days after the Republican nominee made waves when he said during last week’s presidential debate that while he likes Big Bird, he doesn’t believe the nation should be borrowing from China to subsidize the show or PBS.

But according to a ticket office employee, the Sesame Street event was cancelled “way before” they knew anything about Romney coming to Asheville. Romney’s team simply made use of the empty space.