Sesame Street Writer Confirms Bert and Ernie Are Gay

[47of74]

I think we all knew that about 25 years ago.

A former Sesame Street writer has confirmed what we always knew: Bert and Ernie are a loving gay couple.

During an interview with Queerty, writer Mark Saltzman reflected upon writing the iconic Muppet duo as a gay couple and seeing his own relationship with editor Arnold Glassman in the pair.

"And I always felt that without a huge agenda, when I was writing Bert and Ernie, they were [gay]. I didn't have any other way to contextualize them. The other thing was, more than one person referred to Arnie and I as 'Bert and Ernie,' " Saltzman said.

Saltzman elaborated, explaining the ways in his which own relationship with Glassman influenced Bert and Ernie on the show, right down to how Glassman's "OCD" would "create friction with how chaotic [Saltzman] was."

[Sanity Claws]

1. All along I thought they were puppets.

I didn't know puppets had sex lives.
Do I now have to imagine Kermit and Miss Piggy getting it on?

[BannonsLiver]

3. That's pretty much how every little kid is

I don’t think I considered their sexuality until well into adulthood, or at least late adolescence. Fascinating backstory though.

[Freethinker65]

7. Yep. As a kid I never gave any thought to the sexual identity of the characters.

[Behind the Aegis]

15. Fun fact: Gay people can be gay and never have sex! Mind Blown!

Guess you now have to contemplate their honeymoon?

[Laffy Kat]

2. I think most of us already knew this.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. I didn't think puppets had any kind of sex.

Who knew?

[marylandblue]

6. Puppets should be free to love other puppets.

Homopuppetry is perfectly natural.

[Behind the Aegis]

16. Fun fact: People can be gay and not have sex.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. By that I didn't mean having sex; I meant sexual identity. They're puppets.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

18. You think Animal might be a girl? And Miss Piggy is maybe a boy?

Its been a while since I watched but I seem to remember Miss Piggy was in love with Kermit.

I know you didn’t mean anything by it.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

20. Cartoons and toys are given genders because we don't like to call anything "it"

that has humanoid characteristics. Winnie the Pooh is a "boy" but "he" is really just an imaginary toy teddy bear. But because "he" is animate "he" has to have a gender (usually male - because even imaginary creatures are seldom female unless they're minor players in their stories) because we don't like sentient, animate beings, even imaginary ones, to be "its." But it's very hard for me to think about Winnie the Pooh or Gumby or Felix the Cat, although designated as "male," as either straight or gay. They have gender definitions but not sexuality (OK, maybe Kermit and Miss Piggy are among the few exceptions).

[Behind the Aegis]

19. You have an issue with Zari, the Muslim feminist muppet?

How about Kami, the HIV positive muppet?

After all, they are puppets, so how can a puppet be Muslim? They can't have a sexual orientation, but they can have a religion?! And a feminist to boot! And how, pray tell, does a puppet contract HIV?

I mean, it is as if creators purposely made these puppets with the intention of teaching children about diversity and inclusivity. So why is that diversity and inclusivity not extended to the GLBT community!?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

21. I was unaware of the existence of Zari, not being a muppetophile.

However, if the creator of the muppet has designated his/her creation as having a gender or religion or sexual preference or some other characteristic, then I see no problem accepting that designation because obviously the creator had a purpose for it. Otherwise it's assuming facts not in evidence. For example, awhile back there was a cartoon called the Teletubbies, and one of them was purple, so that idiot Jerry Falwell assumed this character was gay and therefore bad for children. That's really dumb and really offensive, and is more the sort of thing I had in mind when such attributes are attached to imaginary beings.

[Behind the Aegis]

22. And yet, the writer confirms it.

The muppets' sexual orientation was described by the writer as based on his own experience. Of course, whether you knew about Kami or Zari is irrelevant because your original argument was: "I didn't think puppets had any kind of sex." Yet, as another poster pointed out, there is MISS Piggy, and of course there are scores of other FEMALE puppets (Zari the FEMINIST puppet), as well as male ones.

Other groups are represented in muppet world, so why not gay ones?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

23. I have no objection to that at all.

The creator of said muppets is entitled to designate all of their characteristics. If their creator has given them attributes relating to gender or sexuality or anything else, that's perfectly fine. I might have misunderstood the point that the inventor of Bert and Ernie specifically intended them to be a gay couple, but in the absence of that designation I would have to say that muppets are just puppets. If I created a couple of cartoon characters called Arnie and Andy the Aardvarks and made up a story about their adventures hunting ants and avoiding hyenas, I would not expect others to assume they were either straight or gay, because those attributes would be irrelevant to my story. If the characters' creators intentionally wanted their them to have those attributes that's different, and obviously I have not the slightest problem with it. It would be a good thing, I think.

[SixString]

25. The writer only confirms his opinion.

He didn't create these characters.

Jim Henson and Frank Oz did in the late 60's.

Saltzman didn't write for Sesame Street until the mid to late 80's. And this is only his interpretation of those characters.

Link to tweet

"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 a sexual orientation."

[Croney]

5. And the bigots are looking around saying, What can we burn? What can we burn?

[riverbendviewgal]

8. I dont see it that way.

They are best friends.
My son and his best friend wore Ernie and Bert costumes one year when they were in high school. They were the best of friends.
They were not gay. They both got married and engaged.

I don't understand this .

[Guppy]

9. My friend Mark

Mark is a good friend of mine. I have known him for 55 years. We shared a gym class in 7th grade and I took Latin with him in ninth grade. I am still in touch with him( all my friends from high school are in touch). He is a great guy and if he said this is is true it is true. The last time I saw him was in Vegas at a reunion of my clique and he knew I was working on the Obama campaign and he brought me a dozen Obama buttons.
He regularly writes plays and he wrote Milo and Otis(the dog and cat movie). He lost on Jeopardy and we never forgave him.

[underpants]

26. Great background

Thanks.

[Separation]

10. Lmao, give me a break

This sounds like when people tried to say Winnie the Pooh is a female. Kinda hard when even the song goes, "He's Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the pooh, stuffed with fluff......"

Much ado about nothing.

[BlueStater]

11. Oh, bullshit.

Their interaction was based on the real life friendship of their performers, Jim Henson (Ernie) and Frank Oz (Bert).

Sorry, but it annoys me to no end this implication that two unrelated males can't live together and show affection towards each other without being lovers. It's garbage.

[left-of-center2012]

12. you beat my thread by 6 minutes

i've closed it https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211148894
and redirected to yours

[lunasun]

13. DUH but thanks for the affirmation writer guy . Love Bert & Ernie!

[Behind the Aegis]

14. How nice.

What a shame, in the 21st century, there is still so much homophobia and heterosexism that news like this causes people to reveal their true heterosexist ignorance and stupidity, and, in some cases, their hateful homophobia. Even a bigger shame, the bigotry isn't limited to the right.

[johnp3907]

30. I just put a bunch of bigots on ignore.

I’m not reading any of their crap anymore.

[SixString]

32. Frank Oz: "I created Bert. I know what and who he is."

Link to tweet

Frank Oz
✔
@TheFrankOzJam

It seems Mr. Mark Saltzman was asked if Bert & Ernie are gay. It's fine that he feels they are. They're not, of course. But why that question? Does it really matter? Why the need to define people as only gay? There's much more to a human being than just straightness or gayness.

Link to tweet

[IluvPitties]

24. They are puppets.

I am glad they are able to represent human diversity, though.

[RandySF]

27. No shit

[Gothmog]

28. Luckovich had fun with this

[roamer65]

29. I always thought of them as a more innocent version of the Odd Couple.

Like Tony Randall and Jack Klugman.



But if they were gay...it’s ok 👍

[SixString]

31. The writer only confirms his opinion.

He didn't create these characters.

Jim Henson and Frank Oz did in the late 60's.

Saltzman didn't write for Sesame Street until the mid to late 80's. And this is only his interpretation of those characters.

Link to tweet

"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 a sexual orientation."

[47of74]

33. UPDATE: Twitter has made note of this

Link to tweet

[JHan]

34. a sign of true love lol

[JHan]

35. Yes, they're puppets and don't have a sexual identity but..

.. they are intimate in ways that go beyond your usual platonic male-male friendships.

They do reflect what a lot of long-term gay relationships look like which is why Saltzman found it so easy to identify with them. He could relate to "ernie and bert" as a representation of his own lived experience.

And I'll bet "ernie and bert" was impactful for a lot of gay youth, even I wondered about them.