A long time writer for ‘Sesame Street’ recently said in an interview that Bert & Ernie are a “loving couple”, which sparked a wave of reactions online. The writer, Mark Saltzman, who is a gay man, said in the interview:
“I always felt that without a huge agenda, when I was writing Bert & Ernie, they were. I didn’t have any other way to contextualize them. The other thing was, more than one person referred to Arnie & I as ‘Bert & Ernie.’”
Sesame Street Workshop, who runs the children’s show now, released a tweet dispelling the rumors saying,
“As we have always said, Bert and Ernie are best friends. They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves. Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics (as most ‘Sesame Street’ Muppets do), they remain puppets, and do not have sexual orientation.”
