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1:18 espops 14h Joshua Gillespie 4:33PM to me v 5G+ 3 ↑ Ж Dear Megan I apologize that my messages of playful flirting went too far. It was never my intention to make you uncomfortable, clearly I misunderstood our friendship and that was unfair to you. I hope you can forgive me. Please let me know if there is any way I can make things better. "clearly I misunderstood our friendship" ??? Fr? I quite literally went back and looked through every message I have w him, I never ONCE - EVER, said ANYTHING that would give any indication that talking to me like that was appropriate, funny to me or encouraged, did he think because I was so nice to him I wouldn't say anything? Like? What's that even mean??? This is the lamest apology I've ever seen Anyway like I said I'm choosing to not engage. I've blocked all of his pages, I'm not responding to his wife. I've said all I needed to say in the first message, and leaving it at that. Neither of them are worth my energy, I'm just keeping you all informed on this cus They are insane Send message...

Since Muppet History doesn't want to get into what he's actually done to hurt people, I will. You can't keep something like this vague. Good Evening We wanted to take a moment to address some concerns that have arisen as of late. Before we dive into these concerns, we want to thank you for your continued support and encouragement. We acknowledge that we are human and have made mistakes in the past, We are always striving to learn and grow and appreciate your understanding and grace. We extend our thanks to those who hold us accountable. This community is near and dear to our hearts and we hope to foster and embody the principles of Jim Henson in our words and actions. @muppethistory no. malonespops 18h Hey, sorry to bother you & I'm not sure if you'll ever see this, but I wanted to say thank you and to sincerely wish you the best too! Thank you for using your voice to speak out about Joshua/Muppet History's serial harassment of women. I was one of his targets myself, and it was super scary for me, because I felt so alone and so afraid to speak up about it, worried nobody would believe me. I wanted to say thank you for speaking out on him on your story and for inspiring many other women to come out and talk on it too Much love! And also, I hope you are okay! So many stand with you and I hope you feel empowered and uplifted during this Thank you again. You gave me courage I didn't even know I had and I'm grateful For starters- there are many, many, many people affected. I want to make that very clear. Whether it was sexual abuse and misconduct or bullying people in this community. I will not let him reduce it to nothing. I will not let these people be invalidated. Hi Megan, we don't know each other but i saw that you might involved with the Joshua Gillespie stuff going on. He has been overly friendly sending sexual jokes and flirtatious messages to me and 3 other people that I know of. I am trying to figure out how many people have been targeted by this, if you're comfortable sharing anything else you know about the situation please contact me. Thank you! malonespops 18h What happened to this apology, Josh? I've been running Muppet History for the last 6 years. In that time, I've said terrible things to people, belittling and insulting things, inappropriate things, and have gone against everything I've tried to make this page about, and everything Jim Henson stood for. To those people I am deeply sorry. I've let down those subscribed to my Patreon and not provided the things I offered. To those who feel scammed I am sorry. I've used my audience irresponsibly as to go after people who have brought up genuine concerns and criticisms. That use of my platform and position is disgusting. I'm thankful that there are finally people who are standing up to hold me accountable for my actions in the past. Whether it was prior to now or recently, I have to be held accountable for my actions and should strive to do better. I'm disappointed and ashamed. I've let down my friends, my wife, and the community as a whole. My hope is that I learn from my actions, receive the help I need, and become the person I have pretended that I am. - Joshua malonespops 18h Inad posted this, and some other things to my close friends story saying I questioned his character. It was never supposed to be something other than me expressing that, but I was met with SO MANY PEOPLE telling me they had the same experience. Or worse. Some, much worse. After that, I felt I had a responsibility to keep speaking up in my private way. I wanted to let the community members I knew aware. I had even talked to Josh last night to try to avoid still going public with all of this He was going to own up to the REAL HURT he has caused. But chose to take that cop out, BS apology route instead. You all deserve to know. <muppethistory 304 Business chat Replied to your story gurl that mouth opens wide HHHAHAHAH I'm dead OCT 15 AT 9:32 PM Wut else can it do OCT 16 AT 9:32 PM malonespops 17h My DMs are going crazy right now. I've already just received serveral more messages of people thanking me for speaking on this, because they dealt with it too. This is so widespread, you guys. I am sick to my stomach that this community was made unsafe by someone with this much of an influence. I want to say a few things.. first off, you are valid. Every single one of you who has come to me, I will continue to validate you and be your voice. None of this is okay. This is NOT what the Muppets fandom is about, I promise you. And I'm dedicated, along with many others, to keep it a positive and uplifting place. Not a place to get harassed. I am so sorry if you thought this was a safe space and was met by an internet creep g preying on you. Insane. malonespops 17h. ent this to his wife after she asked me what's going on. And she was very dismissive. Essentially claiming she approves of his messages, and as they are a poly couple, they admitted to a friend that messaging me like that as an attempt to flirt. They even made it seem I consented to that, which I never did. This is how they act with someone who h phas sa platform, an opportunity to speak up and share the truth. Now just imagine how they've treated people who they felt would never tell. You can only assume. Holly Gillespie > Active 44m ago вов So yes, the wife is in on it. Hey Holly, I appreciate that. And thanks for reaching out, yeah. Yeah there is, unfortunately. I honesty do not want anything to do with Josh anymore. I'm sure he told you abt the lil tiff w the MV3D stuff, but that's NOT my concern. When he upset me, I posted my thoughts abt some things to my close friends, I followed that with a screenshot of some sexually charged comments he made. The response to that was immense. So many people told me they had problems w him, screenshots of him being belittling, talking down, telling someone even they aren't a real muppet page. But worst of all, others had said that he made them feel uncomfortable in a more than friendly way, too. Many said that you should be messaged and made aware, but the whole thing is super 1. I've reshared on close friends screenshots that were sent to me, and the things I was told. I made it a private thing because I wanted MY people to know. No one is spreading rumors, they are spreading their own stories.

cinnamon bun @notsofiacoppola Man I just wanted to see pictures of muppets. Why does a muppet history account have allegations 6:48 PM • Dec 2, 2024 538.3K Views

e @favoritedvd - 18h justice for muppet history wife 1 221 22 ili 6.4K ☐ 1 Holly Gillespie @Holly_lauren16-18h Muppet History wife is the moderator of social media interactions.... 2 271 3 5.3K ធ 1, Holly Gillespie @Holly_lauren16 - 18h I approved of the message based on past flirtatious interactions with this individual. 7 27 11 15K Mackenzie Hunt @mackenziehunt - 17h In other words, you knew what your husband was doing, and you didn't do anything to stop it. That's disgusting and the apology was half ass at best. 173 119 4.7K Holly Gillespie @Holly_lauren16 ... Mind you, in reviewing messages sent from Muppet History this was the only one I have found thus far where I would consider it "inappropriate", to which we issued her a personal apology. This interaction was 2 months prior, nothing further was said at the time. 9:23 PM - Dec 2, 2024 - 2,567 Views

lorin @nirol__ "And the Muppet History guy, who did NOT beat the allegations..." 11:58 PM - Dec 2, 2024 - 28.8K Views

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Overview

Muppet History Sexual Harassment Allegations or Muppet History Drama refers to several accusations of online sexual harassment leveled against the Twitter / X and Instagram Muppets fan account Muppet History, run by Josh Gillespie, who allegedly has a history of sending lewd content and unwanted sexual advances to women through DMs. The allegations first came to light in early December 2024, with Instagram and X user @malonespops sharing several screenshots of harassing DMs purportedly sent by Muppet History, as well as screenshots of DMs from victims of Muppet History. Muppet History made one apology, which he deleted, then made a joint apology with his wife Holly Gillespie, which was widely criticized for being vague. The allegations inspired numerous other gimmick accounts to disavow Muppet History and also inspired memes. Purportedly, Holly Gillespie was aware of the messages but approved of them, with the couple claiming they are in a polyamorous relationship.

Background

First Statement

On December 1st, 2024, the X^[1] account @HistoryMuppet, a popular The Muppets fan page with over 280,000 followers, posted a vague apology for saying "terrible" and "inappropriate" things to people. He writes that he has "used" his audience irresponsibly and calls his actions "disgusting." He then states that he's "thankful that there are finally people who are standing up to hold me accountable for my actions in the past," writing that he's let down his friends, wife and community. Finally, he writes that he's seeking help.

The apology was deleted later that day. A portion of it was reposted by X^[2] user @peteetchou that same day, writing, "When you log in too late to find out what awful thing Muppet History did over the last 6 years," garnering over 11,000 likes in two days.

"I've been running Muppet History for the last 6 years. In that time, I've said terrible things to people, belittling and insulting things, inappropriate things, and have gone against everything I've tried to make this page about, and everything Jim Henson stood for. To those people I am deeply sorry. I've let down those subscribed to my Patreon and not provided the things I offered. To those who feel scammed I am sorry, I've used my audience irresponsibly as to go after people who have brought up genuine concerns and criticisms. That use of my platform and position is disgusting. I'm thankful that there are finally people who are standing up to hold me accountable for my actions in the past. Whether it was prior to now or recently, I have to be held accountable for my actions and should strive to do better. I'm disappointed and ashamed. I've let down my friends, my wife, and the community as a whole. My hope is that I learn from my actions, receive the help I need, and become the person I have pretended that I am. – Josh"

Second Statement

On December 2nd, 2024, Muppet History posted a new statement to Instagram^[3] and X,^[4] garnering over 7,000 likes on the former and 1,400 on the latter in a day. This statement is signed "Josh and Holly," Holly Gillespie being Josh's (Muppet History's) wife.

Muppet History A @HistoryMuppet Good Evening We wanted to take a moment to address some concerns that have arisen as of late. Before we dive into these concerns, we want to thank you for your continued support and encouragement. We acknowledge that we are human and have made mistakes in the past, We are always striving to learn and grow and appreciate your understanding and grace. We extend our thanks to those who hold us accountable. This community is near and dear to our hearts and we hope to foster and embody the principles of Jim Henson in our words and actions. Therefore, we extend our most sincere apologies to those whom we have hurt, either through this platform or personal platforms. There has been a series in which boundaries with friends and viewers through messaging were overstepped. To the people who have been made uncomfortable by these actions we have only ourselves to blame and ask for your forgiveness. In building this community we have been overly protective, confusing fellow fan accounts for competition. We have not properly intervened when members in our own community have caused harm in defending our name. We have overstepped boundaries and ignored the hurt it caused. We cannot take back what has been said and we do not offer this apology with expectations that you will accept it solely on our word. We will be taking a step away from posting personal content on this platform over the next few weeks to reflect on our next steps forward in bettering ourselves. This community deserves only the best. We understand that actions speak louder. And we hope that one day we can regain your trust. - Joshua and Holly

The statement begins with Josh and Holly thanking supporters, writing, "We are always striving to learn and grow and appreciate your understanding and grace. We extend our thanks to those who hold us accountable." They then apologize to the people they hurt, adding, "There has been a series in which boundaries with friends and viewers through messaging were overstepped. To the people who have been made uncomfortable by these actions we have only ourselves to blame and ask for your forgiveness." They continue:

In building this community we have been overly protective, confusing fellow fan accounts for competition.

We have not properly intervened when members in our own community have caused harm in defending our name. We have overstepped boundaries and ignored the hurt it caused. We cannot take back what has been said and we do not offer this apology with expectations that you will accept it solely on our word.

Finally, they write that they'll be stepping away from the account for "a few weeks" to reflect and better themselves.

Developments

Malonespops' Story Posts

In response to the second apology being posted on Instagram, The Muppets fan page and Instagram^[5] user malonespops made several posts to her Story regarding the situation. In the posts, malonespops shares screenshots of DMs both allegedly from Muppet History and from victims of Muppet History.

The first post criticizes Josh for being vague in his apology. The second consists of two screenshots of DMs from anonymous women alleging that Josh has been sexually harassing them in their DMs, with one writing, "He has been overly friendly sending sexual jokes and flirtatious messages to me and 3 other people that I know of." The next Story directly asks Josh why he deleted his first statement.

In her next Story, malonespops shares a screenshot of a DM allegedly sent to her by Muppet History, in which he writes, "Damn gurl that mouth opens wide" in response to one of her older Stories. He then writes, "Wut else can it do." She then posted a Story alleging that more people have DM'd her with allegations against Muppet History.

In another Story, malonespops shares a message she allegedly sent to Holly, claiming that Holly was dismissive, claimed she and Josh were in a polyamorous couple and that the messages were fine by her, also writing that Holly "made it seem" like she consented to Josh messaging her that way (selection of Stories shown below, compiled; click to expand).

Since Muppet History doesn't want to get into what he's actually done to hurt people, I will. You can't keep something like this vague. F--- no. Good Evening We wanted to take a moment to address some concerns that have arisen as of late. Before we dive into these concerns, we want to thank you for your continued support and encouragement. We acknowledge that we are human and have made mistakes in the past, We are always striving to learn and grow and appreciate your understanding and grace. We extend our thanks to those who hold us accountable. This community is near and dear to our hearts and we hope to foster and embody the principles of Jim Henson in our words and actions. @muppethistory malonespops 18h Hey, sorry to bother you & I'm not sure if you'll ever see this, but I wanted to say thank you and to sincerely wish you the best too! Thank you for using your voice to speak out about Joshua/Muppet History's serial harassment of women. I was one of his targets myself, and it was super scary for me, because I felt so alone and so afraid to speak up about it, worried nobody would believe me. I wanted to say thank you for speaking out on him on your story and for inspiring many other women to come out and talk on it too Much love! And also, I hope you are okay! So many stand with you and I hope you feel empowered and uplifted during this Thank you again. You gave me courage I didn't even know I had and I'm grateful For starters - there are many, many, many people affected. I want to make that very clear. Whether it was sexual abuse and misconduct or bullying people in this community. I will not let him reduce it to nothing. I will not let these people be invalidated. Hi Megan, we don't know each other but i saw that you might involved with the Joshua Gillespie stuff going on. He has been overly friendly sending sexual jokes and flirtatious messages to me and 3 other people that I know of. I am trying to figure out how many people have been targeted by this, if you're comfortable sharing anything else you know about the situation please contact me. Thank you! malonespops 18h What happened to this apology, Josh? I've been running Muppet History for the last 6 years. In that time, I've said terrible things to people, belittling and insulting things, inappropriate things, and have gone against everything I've tried to make this page about, and everything Jim Henson stood for. To those people I am deeply sorry. I've let down those subscribed to my Patreon and not provided the things I offered. To those who feel scammed I am sorry. I've used my audience irresponsibly as to go after people who have brought up genuine concerns and criticisms. That use of my platform and position is disgusting. I'm thankful that there are finally people who are standing up to hold me accountable for my actions in the past. Whether it was prior to now or recently, I have to be held accountable for my actions and should strive to do better. I'm disappointed and ashamed. I've let down my friends, my wife, and the community as a whole. My hope is that I learn from my actions, receive the help I need, and become the person I have pretended that I am. - Joshua malonespops 18h Inad posted this, and some other things to my close friends story saying I questioned his character. It was never supposed to be something other than me expressing that, but I was met with SO MANY PEOPLE telling me they had the same experience. Or worse. Some, much worse. After that, I felt I had a responsibility to keep speaking up in my private way. I wanted to let the community members I knew aware. I had even talked to Josh last night to try to avoid still going public with all of this s---. He was going to own up to the REAL HURT he has caused. But chose to take that cop out, BS apology route instead. You all deserve to know. <muppethistory 304 Business chat Replied to your story Damn gurl that mouth opens wide HHHAHAHAH I'm dead OCT 15 AT 9:32 PM Wut else can it do OCT 16 AT 9:32 PM malonespops 17h My DMs are going crazy right now. I've already just received serveral more messages of people thanking me for speaking on this, because they dealt with it too. This is so widespread, you guys. I am sick to my stomach that this community was made unsafe by someone with this much of an influence. I want to say a few things.. first off, you are valid. Every single one of you who has come to me, I will continue to validate you and be your voice. None of this is okay. This is NOT what the Muppets fandom is about, I promise you. And I'm dedicated, along with many others, to keep it a positive and uplifting place. Not a place to get harassed. I am so sorry if you thought this was a safe space and was met by an internet creep f------ preying on you. Insane. malonespops 17h. ent this to his wife after she asked me what's going on. And she was very dismissive. Essentially claiming she approves of his messages, and as they are a poly couple, they admitted to a friend that messaging me like that as an attempt to flirt. They even made it seem I consented to that, which I never did. This is how they act with someone who h phas sa platform, an opportunity to speak up and share the truth. Now just imagine how they've treated people who they felt would never tell. You can only assume. Holly Gillespie > Active 44m ago вов So yes, the wife is in on it. Hey Holly, I appreciate that. And thanks for reaching out, yeah. Yeah there is, unfortunately. I honesty do not want anything to do with Josh anymore. I'm sure he told you abt the lil tiff w the MV3D stuff, but that's NOT my concern. When he upset me, I posted my thoughts abt some things to my close friends, I followed that with a screenshot of some sexually charged comments he made. The response to that was immense. So many people told me they had problems w him, screenshots of him being belittling, talking down, telling someone even they aren't a real muppet page. But worst of all, others had said that he made them feel uncomfortable in a more than friendly way, too. Many said that you should be messaged and made aware, but the whole thing is super f-----. I've reshared on close friends screenshots that were sent to me, and the things I was told. I made it a private thing because I wanted MY people to know. No one is spreading rumors, they are spreading their own stories.

Additionally, malonespops posted a screenshot of an email sent to her by Josh Gillespie in which he directly apologizes to her for the "flirtatious" messages, writing that he "misunderstood" their friendship.

Holly Gillespie's Responses

On December 2nd, 2024, Holly Gillespie, Muppet History's wife, posted a screenshot of a DM allegedly sent to Muppet History by malonespops to X^[10] in which she writes "omg you guys touched tips" in response to Muppet History writing, "I GOT TIPSY WITH BRIAN HENSON," asking, "How is this not considered sexual harassment from her end?"

Richard "Big Fan Of Birds" Gomez @StarmansArt - 18h sexually harassing people in your community and playing it off as consensual flirting is not okay and you can't make it okay by twisting the narrative with a non-apology the minute you get called out 150 Holly Gillespie @Holly_lauren16 1.2K tle 33K How is this not considered sexual harassment from her end? Megan malonespops Muppet... AUG 1 AT 12:21PM I GOT TIPSY WITH BRIAN HENSON AUG 1 AT 2:33 PM Omg u guys touched tips what hahaha Anyway that's awesome

That same day, Holly had an interaction with another X^[12] user in which she claimed to have looked through the DMs and only found one inappropriate one, which they apologized for personally.

Online Reactions

The allegations against Muppet History garnered viral spread on December 2nd, 2024, resulting in memes, further allegations, reactions and disavowals from similar gimmick accounts. For example, on December 2nd, the X^[6] account @frankozfacts posted a disavowal of Muppet History, garnering over 5,500 likes in a day. Later that day, the X^[7] account @SesameHistory also posted a disavowal that gained over 1,200 likes in a day.

frank oz facts @frankozfacts Frank Oz Facts does not support the actions of Muppet History and finds him to be quite a disgusting person. The behavior he has exhibited is unacceptable. Jim Henson's core values were about love and community, which Joshua clearly doesn't understand. 12:30 PM · Dec 2, 2024 325.3K Views

Also on December 2nd, X^[8] user @StarmansArt posted a criticism of Muppet History's apology, writing, "sexually harassing people in your community and playing it off as consensual flirting is not okay and you can’t make it okay by twisting the narrative with a non-apology the minute you get called out," garnering over 1,200 likes in a day.

Later that same day, X^[9] user @m4rges1mpson made a post alleging that Muppet History sent her adult Simpsons content without her consent, garnering over 900 likes in a day.

@m4rges1mpson If you want to hear the worst of it, Muppet History began sending me unwanted explicit Simpsons p---... it was disgusting & he had no right or reason to send that to me. 7:13 PM • Dec 2, 2024 52.8K Views

Later on December 2nd, 2024, X^[11] user @MikeBeauvais posted a meme imagining his wife's reaction to hearing the news about Muppet History's allegations, garnering over 6,200 likes in a day.

Mike Beauvais @MikeBeauvais ME: The man behind Muppet History, one of Twitter's foremost Muppet- related accounts, is stepping away after it came to light that he was sending unsolicited messages of a sexual nature to various women. The online Muppet community is aghast. MY WIFE: The baby is crying. 9:56 PM - Dec 2, 2024 89.6K Views

Search Interest

External References

^[1] X (dead link) – HistoryMuppet

^[2] X – peteetchou

^[3] Instagram – muppethistory

^[4] X – HistoryMuppet

^[5] Instagram – malonespops

^[6] X – frankozfacts

^[7] X – SesameHistory

^[8] X – StarmansArt

^[9] X – m4rges1mpson

^[10] X – Holly_lauren16

^[11] X – MikeBeauvais

^[12] X – Holly_lauren16

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Muppet History Sexual Harassment Allegations / Drama

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