PEOPLE WATCH

Pat Robertson vs. Puppeteer: Evangelist Pat Robertson charged Thursday that a children’s puppet show featuring simulated oral sex was performed last week at an Atlanta arts festival allegedly subsidized by the National Endowment for the Arts. Robertson said the puppet show, performed at the Atlanta Arts Festival last Friday before 800 people, including children, featured “approximately five minutes of simulated foreplay between two puppets followed by an exhibit of oral sex acts.” His Christian Coalition in Chesapeake, Va., responded by generating 27,000 petitions demanding that the NEA be abolished and sending them Tuesday to every member of Congress. Robertson’s claims were vigorously denied by the NEA, the Georgia state arts council and puppeteer Jon Ludwig of Atlanta.