Miss Piggy has played the music and lit the lights, but these days, the fuzzy Muppet can add one more thing to her long list of accomplishments: an award-winning feminist.
Piggy received a Sackler Center First Award from the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum for her trailblazing feminist ways. The presentation included a conversation with veteran women’s rights activist Gloria Steinem.
“While everyone we know thinks it’s fabulous that moi is receiving this award, there have been a few naysayers out there,” Piggy told the crowd. “Some have actually criticized moi for receiving this honor who think moi does not deserve this award because I am quote unquote, ‘not a real person.’ To each of those accusations I say, ‘Ha!’”
After she accepted her award, the audience watched a video retrospective of Miss Piggy’s career going all the way back to the 1970s.
“She is definitely her own self,” Steinem said. “She isn’t trying to be either totally masculine or totally feminine, she’s human.”
'Twas an honor seeing @GloriaSteinem at the #sacklercenterfirsts tonight. She's lovely and a fan of moi, naturally! pic.twitter.com/7ChGIXptz5
— Miss Piggy (@MissPiggy) June 5, 2015
Miss Piggy also made it clear that as a feminist she has no plans to change her name.
“I have nothing against Ms. — I love it,” Piggy said. “But changing your name is just impossible, really … Actually, I would prefer if people just called me ‘Your Highness’ or ‘Your Majesty.’ I’m already so invested, it just wouldn’t make any sense.”
Previous honorees include Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison, retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Muriel Siebert, the first female trader on the New York Stock Exchange.
In May, ABC announced it was going forward with a new reboot of “The Muppet Show.”
The original Muppet Show aired from 1976 to 1981. It was revived in 1996 with ABC’s “Muppets Tonight.”
Watch a portion of Miss Piggy’s acceptance speech here.