Bert and Ernie are gay, Sesame Workshop confirms (but only if you want them to be)
Aux Features Sesame StreetSesame Workshop can say Bert and Ernie’s bath time adventures are platonic until they’re orange in the face, but even Sesame Street’s writers know the truth. Now, having been inundated with rampant speculation and more fan fiction than you can cram into Elmo’s bus, the suits behind the long-running kid’s program have stopped fighting.
Bert and Ernie are gay.
Well, if you want them to be.
“People can think whatever they want [about Bert and Ernie],” says Brown Johnson, the executive vice president of the Sesame Workshop, told The Hollywood Reporter. “You want to think they’re gay? OK. You want to think they’re not gay? They’re not gay.”
So, no, it’s not an actual confirmation, and one shouldn’t expect to see the pair holding hands in any future episodes. It is, however, better than their previous claims that “they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation,” a stance that likely changed once they learned about furries and Venom-fuckers.
The bombshell dropped in a new retrospective, “50 Years of Sunny Days on ‘Sesame Street’: Behind the Scenes of TV’s Most Influential Show Ever,” that digs deep into the show’s birth, legacy, and evolution. Per the piece, the show’s 50th birthday also brings with it a new TV special, a 10-city road trip, and, as we previously reported, a new movie that’s said to star Anne Hathaway.
That’s a lot to chew on, as is the discovery made by the below tweet. Trouble in paradise?
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72 Comments
Schrodinger’s life partner?
Gay
I choose to believe that Bert is always grumpy because he’s tired of helping Ernie bury dead hookers.
I thought Ernie was an Orange-supremacist, and that Bert is a self-hating Yellow.
loaf of bread, stick of butter, carton of milk, 8 foot tarp, two shovels, rubber gloves.
+ 1 that brought back some childhood memories.
Me and my Dude’s Typical shopping LIST for an impending snowstorm: the rubber gloves? We like to make “blow-up Turkey Puppets.”
Unless, the trust fund dudebros renting the huge house across the street – on a 3 month party hard lease* – get to acting up. THEN, it’s ‘Turkey-Trottin Time’ ;)*Dudebro “party-hard rentals” seem to be the only function for this property. They move no furniture, don’t leave a mess, they just disappear.
Or DO they?
Best reply.
I Also like to believe that Bert and Ernie both used to be serial killers, but Ernie eventually cracked under the pressure and mentally shattered to the state of a rubber duck loving toddler. Bert is now doomed to care for Ernie forever, because he’s terrified that if Ernie gets proper psychiatric help he might spill the beans about all the innocent puppets they’ve murdered. Bert may be forced to sing songs and pretend to care about the letter of the day, but he’s making damned sure to be clear about how pissed off he is.
Apparently this website has grown since I last checked it out. Can’t find the part about the dead hookers though:https://www.bertisevil.tv/
I just always figured them as Felix and Oscar, a charming mis-fitted couple – for kids. And I’ll always see them that way (even if Felix was probably gay;)
This is similar to the Toughpigs stance on the questionhttp://www.toughpigs.com/bert-and-ernie-whats-their-deal/
They took Sesame Workshop’s problematic statement and modified it to reflect their ideal of how Sesame Street functions in our society.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. They are not intended to depict a gay couple, but they
certainly do love and care for each other, and we are happy that so many
viewers with different life experiences who grew up watching Bert and
Ernie on Sesame Street can identify with and see themselves and their
relationships in these characters.
I’m sorry, but this just isn’t enough. They need to take it one step further and confirm that Ernie is bisexual.This has nothing to do with inclusivity; I just want Ernie to have some other options so he can leave that toxic relationship. Bert is garbage.
Bert and Ernie just going through a rough patch right now it’s complety natural
They’re Schrödinger homosexuals!
Those parades are the best
I went to go see the last one, but it wasn’t there.
Yes it was
You take one closet, and put a gay couple in it…
I mean, they’re puppets. They can be anything you want them to be.
First of all, it’s Fabricated-American. Second, you don’t get to tell them what they are.
Listen, Captain Jell-O Dick, I’ve had just about enough out of you today…[REMOVES SHIRT; ASSUMES AIKIDO STANCE]
Your aikido is no match for my Royal Pudding Guard! Puddings! Seize him!
Arrrgh! The corn syrup is giving me instantaneous diabetus!
If you drank Bud Light instead of Miller Lite, you wouldn’t have that corn syrup problem
Bonus points for the Wilford Brimley reference.
Don’t use your sword against them, Kirk! They’ll just divide into two puddings!
Of course I want them to be gay. It’s literally all I think about. What, is that weird?
I think Oscar is asexual like Morrissey, that’s why he so miserable all the time like Morrissey.
Oscar also eats a garbage vegan diet, except it’s literally vegetables from the garbage.
Not for an AV Club reader.
My only thing with that is there aren’t nearly enough healthy platonic male friendships shown on tv without the writers going out of their way to prove they don’t have a case of the gays. So I want them to be gay, but not dating each other
Bert and Ernie are puppets and lack all genitalia and sexual impulse. I mean, let’s remain grounded in some form of reality here… Cool if Children’s Workshop wants to use them to explore that interpersonal dynamic because it’s an important one to explore. But if not, then this is just an odd thing to tell the press.
There are numerous straight couples in Sesame Street with offspring.
https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Baby_Natashahttps://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Louiehttps://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Baby_Bearhttps://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Twiddlebugs
So….asexual? They’ve got their own flag now, you know.
They’re puppets. No matter how you slice it, they’ve all got somebody’s hand up their ass.
Well, technically Big Bird’s got somebody’s hand in his mouth and in his hand. And a finger in his eye.
They’re puppets. No matter how you slice it, they’ve all got somebody’s hand up their ass.
I’m not sure that’s conclusive of anything. So do Kermit and Miss Piggy.
Speaking of Miss Piggy, when are they going to bring back the ex Mr. Piggy, who came out and moved to SF in the 70s to explore the bondage scene and became Mr. Underwear Piggy, a lover of leather scene dirty undies parties?
Mr. Piggy went spiritual and devoted himself to transcendental muppetation.
How badly do we need to want it? Would $100 get em going?
I can’t stop laughing at this. +1
Say it with me: Asexual. Life. Partners.
asemblum. leef. partataysssshp.
Bert is gay, Ernie is an ace. Or into inatimate things like rubber ducks
I’m not comfortable with this. Why are we jumping to the conclusion that they are both male? Classic cis-gender oppression.
Well, I know Burt is a sentient dildo.
Pics or it didn’t happen.
As a Muppet fan, I don’t have much of an issue with people interpreting the two as a couple, but I think it should remain a matter of personal interpretation. That thing back in 2011 when someone made that petition for the two to get married or come out didn’t seem like the right way to go about it – it’s trying to get your fan theory to become the actual canon.
Nothing about them has really ever suggested anything of a romantic nature, really. Do people think Abbot and Costello were a couple? Or Felix and Oscar? Because that’s where the inspiration for Ernie and Bert are from.
Felix and Oscar were obviously a couple. An odd one at that.
And Frodo and Sam. Platonic manlove just can’t be!
Frodo was sexually harassing his employee.
Well, Fox News just figured out its programming for the rest of the week.
https://giphy.com/embed/4JYuFuIu7lcw8
Just a reminder, Gonzo fucks chickens.
Gonzo was originally a bird himself though until they retconned him into being an alien. Chicken-other bird species relationships are not that weird.
That’s kind of like saying it’s not weird for humans to fuck chimps. It’s very weird, and chimps are a lot closer to humans on the intelligence scale than those chickens are to Gonzo.
Also, Gonzo has been acting as a manager for the chickens the last couple of years, so there’s probably some unhealthy power dynamic going on as well.
Yeah, but it was the 70s…things were different then.
Gonzo : Camilla :: Harrison Ford : Carrie Fisher?
#clucktoo
a lot of people don’t know Snuffleupagus has a camera room in his house like Seal and YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO GO IN
Pretty sure that’s why he only appears on the Muppet Show. He is legally prohibited from living within 200 yards of Sesame Street.
I’ve never really seen any convincing evidence for them being gay, other than being roommates and close friends (which feels like pretty weak justification). Obviously, it would be fine if they were actually gay, and there’s real precedent for puppet sexuality in the Muppet-verse, but in this case it feels like a label just casually tossed at characters who don’t really seem to demonstrate much if any sexual attraction in general.
While I do think there should be explicit representation of a variety of lifestyles (gay, trans, polyamourous, etc.), I also see the value in saying “it’s whatever you want it to be”, especially if you’re not really interested in exploring the sexuality/gender of the characters you create. It lets a beloved character be accessible to a bunch of different communities who are under-represented. Mark Hamill said that about Luke Skywalker – if he’s gay or bi or trans to you, then that’s who he is, and Hamill isn’t going to deny you that reading.
Everyone’s gay if you try hard enough.
I dunno. I kind of think it’s a harmful idea that every close loving friendship (No matter the gender or genders involved) must be sexual. Can’t good friends just be good friends in this day and age?
Anne Hathaway you say? Now, I’m pretty sure there’s something I’m supposed to do when I see her but I’m damned if I can remember what it is.
FAP!
I think Oscar is gay I heard he likes it in the can.
Chris Hemsworth’s gay too, but only because I want him to be.
The whole “they’re whatever you want them to be” is just a fucking cop-out by a business people trying REALLY hard NOT to offend either side. Which I think is pretty fucking weak. If you can’t make a definitive statement about your creation and are resigned to leaving it up to society to decide for you then you’re not really worthy of any kind of true respect from either side. I’d have more respect for these idiots if they just definitively stated whether or not their characters represented either the gay or hetero community than then just basically saying “Eh, we’re just gonna kiss all your asses by letting you decide whatever you like about our creation”. Bunch of fucking pussies.