Far from the Hundred Acre, in the small town of Tuszyn, Poland, a town council was trying to come up with the name for a local playground. In the running was naming the park after Winnie-the-Pooh, the beloved silly old bear that has warmed the hearts of children around the world for generations. The name turned out to be contentious, though. Thanks to a leaked tape of the council session, the world can bear witness (pun intended) to a startling anti-Pooh sentiment stemming from the bear's unclear gender and immodest clothing.

According to an Australian newspaper, one council member is heard saying: “Anyone who knows Winnie-the-Pooh knows he has no sex [genitalia],” which would normally be considered a good thing in a children's cartoon character, but in this case, was viewed as a symptom of deeper moral issues with the “immodest” bear.

On the tape, the council members complain that Pooh Bear is immodestly dressed, lacks a clear gender and one went so far as to call the bear a “hermaphrodite.” A council member also made some remarkable claims about the origins of Pooh and his creator, A.A. Milne, involving “Pooh's testicles” and “a rusty razor blade.” Milne modeled the well-loved characters after his son and his favorite stuffed toys.

While it's hard to argue with the fact that Winnie-the-Pooh is half-naked as he is clad in only a shirt for most of his adventures with Christopher Robin, Piglet, Kanga, Roo, Owl, Eeyore and Tigger, he's far from the only animated character to go pants-free. (Donald Duck, anyone?) But it turns out that Pooh's lack of pants may not have been the real issue. It seems that some on the council preferred to name the playground after their own local, cis-gendered and fully-clothed bear, Mis Uszatek.

After the tapes were leaked, one council member told the AP that he had been “joking” after a discussion about the playground had gone on too long, but isn’t that what everyone says when they get called out for their bias?

The town members of Tuszyn are unimpressed with their leaders. In an interview with Polish news program TTV, one local resident compared Pooh’s admitted “low intellect” to that of the town councillors, saying: “Winnie the Pooh was a bear with low intellect, and unfortunately, this is also evident in those who are concerned with this topic”.

Poor old Pooh Bear might want to stick his head in a honey pot until this all blows over.

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