On October 11, 2001, dino, the creator of fractalcow.com and the "Bert is Evil!" website has pulled down his Bert is Evil! website after doctored photos created to mock suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden appearing with Bert appeared on a poster created by Taliban supporters.
dino writes:
I have taken down the "Bert is Evil!"site from my server. I would like to thank Sesame Workshop for their patience and restraint all these years. I implore all fans and mirror site hosts of "Bert is Evil" to stop the spread of this site too.
This is not selling out. I was not bullied. I am not being a pussy.
I am doing this because I feel this has gotten too close to reality and I choose to be responsible enough to stop it right here.
I want to thank all the fans who laughed with me all these years. Thank you to the mirror sites who continued the legacy beyond what I started. Thanks to Victor J. Zuylen, N. Ross Gilbert, Wout Reinders and Jasper Hulshoff Pol who helped me build the site back in the early days. Thank you to Tiffany Schlain and the Webby Awards team for believing in me. Many thanks to the press who have helped me get my site noticed (specifically the now defunct magazines Internet Underground and The Web). Thank you to Lloyd Kaufman and the Tromaville.com staff who brought Fractal Cow back to life.