[MarchHare]

When Sesame Street was first conceived, the various human and monster characters were all purposely designed to teach children about different people they will see around their neighbourhoods: shop keepers, police officers, postal workers, and of course people of various non-white ethnicities (Black, Hispanic, etc.). Oscar was very much meant to be a stand-in for homeless people, with the idea that children should learn not to fear them. I guess the character has evolved so much over the last 50 years that children no longer see Oscar as a downtrodden street person so they need to create a new homeless character to fill that role.