(Image Source: The Huffington Post)

BY JESSICA GOODWIN

ANCHOR LAUREN ZIMA

Are Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy secretly trying to push a liberal agenda? Eric Bolling, the host of Fox’s Follow the Money, sparked controversy when his show dedicated 7 minutes of airtime to highlight the movie’s quote “liberal agenda”.

BOLLING: “The Muppets are back and being terrorized by an evil oil executive in their new movie.Liberal Hollywood depicting a successful businessman man as evil, that’s not new.” 

GAINOR: “It’s amazing how far the left will go just to manipulate your kids and to give the anti-corporate message. I mean, this is a Muppet movie, for goodness sake, the only thing green that should be up on that screen should be Kermit the Frog.”

The Huffington Post’s take on the segment went viral, and claimed Fox Business had called the Muppets communists -- something Bolling never stated explicitly. Here’s a taste of story, which was much tamer than the accompanying headline.

“Indeed, there was no mention of the benefits of oil drilling in the Muppets, but there was also no discussion of any other aspect of the industry. Richman... was out to destroy the Muppets theater. Kermit and his friends, then, were not committed environmentalists...but simply puppets looking to save a place they once loved.”

Many media outlets picked up the story. A writer for The Chicago Sun-Times writes that the Muppets are being used as a liberal brainwashing tool is completely ‘bonkers’ -- noting the company behind the franchise.

“The idea of a liberal Hollywood agenda to brainwash children is funnier than any comedy I’ve seen this year. You know what matters to Hollywood? Making money. The Muppets movie is produced by a little company called Disney, one of the most profitable and admired corporate names in the history of civilization.”

And it turned into a bit of a cat fight. Bolling blamed the Huffington Post for blowing the story out of proportion and misrepresenting what he said -- part of its liberal agenda. But a writer for the Guardian says it’s Bolling who made such a big deal out of it.

“The discussion that followed didn't just typify the Fox News mission to recast the outside world as leftwing propaganda; it threatened to usher in a whole new paradigm of stupid.”

Yet, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune says there are some things liberal in the film and some things conservative. The important thing to note here, is that people are going to see what they want.

“ ... if some see a liberal bias in ‘The Muppets,’ the film also has conservative-friendly messages. … The point is that messages are in the eyes of the beholder, even when you look in the mirror.”

Meanwhile Conan O’Brien expressed his opinion in a much more comical way, here’s what he thought about the issue...