From Muppet Wiki

Gay people often joke about Ernie and Bert being a couple, as seen in this photo from a 2005 rally for gay marriage.

The cover of Love, a 1980 album.

Sesame Street Magazine cover, October 1977

Sesame Street Magazine cover, October 1980

The rainbow symbol section at Hot Topic in 2009

Sesame Street belt buckle

Rumors have long circulated that Ernie and Bert are a gay couple as seen on Sesame Street. ^[1] Sesame Workshop disavows these rumors and points out that Ernie and Bert are puppets, not humans; the Workshop's official position, therefore, is that Muppet characters Ernie and Bert are simply good friends. Advocates of this position note that Ernie and Bert's bedroom contains two single beds rather than one larger bed.

In 2002, Sesame Workshop lawyers blocked further showings of the short film Ernest & Bertram by Peter Sears, in which a character based on Ernie confesses his romantic attraction to another character based on Bert. ^[1][2]

Rumor Sources

Bert and Ernie conduct themselves in the same loving, discreet way that millions of gay men, women and hand puppets do. They do their jobs well and live a splendidly settled life together in an impeccably decorated cabinet.

- The Real Thing by Kurt Andersen, 1980 ^[3]

Bert and Ernie are two grown men sharing a house and a bedroom. They share clothes, eat and cook together and have blatantly effeminate characteristics. In one show Bert teaches Ernie how to sew. In another they tend plants together. If this isn't meant to represent a homosexual union, I can't imagine what it's supposed to represent.

- Reverend Joseph Chambers on his radio show, 1994 [4]

Official Statements

Bert and Ernie, who've been on Sesame Street for 25 years, do not portray a gay couple, and there are no plans for them to do so in the future. They are puppets, not humans. Like all the Muppets created for Sesame Street, they were designed to help educate preschoolers. Bert and Ernie are characters who help demonstrate to children that despite their differences, they can be good friends.

- Sesame Workshop's consumer response prepared statement, 1993.

'They are not gay, they are not straight, they are puppets,' says Sesame Workshop President and CEO Gary Knell. 'They don't exist below the waist.'

- Sesame Street: A Celebration - 40 Years of Life on the Street, p. 47.

Other Quotes

• "They're puppets. They don't exist below the waist!"

- Steve Whitmire to students in a Q&A session at Carnegie Mellon University, September 10, 1997 [5]

• "All that stuff about me and Bert? It's not true. We're both very happy, but we're not gay."

- Ernie to students at Carnegie Mellon University, 1997 [6]

• "Oh, you had to ask that question. No, no. In fact, sometimes we are not even friends; he can be a pain in the neck."

- Bert to Spencer Howson when asked if he and Ernie are "more than just good friends" in an ABC Brisbane radio interview, March 7, 2005. (sound bite)

• When Michael Davis, author of the 2008 book Street Gang, was asked, "What's the biggest misconception that people have about Sesame Street that you're hoping to dispel with this book?," Davis responded, "That Bert and Ernie are gay... Certainly they [Sesame Street cast members] played to that notion and laughed about it and enjoyed speculating about Bert and Ernie, but the truth is that those characters are a projection of the real-life friendship between Jim Henson and Frank Oz." ^[4]

Parody and References

• Family Guy
• American Dad
• Avenue Q
• Bernie und Ert
• Ernest & Bertram
• Daryl Cagle's 2003 editorial cartoon on gay marriage
• Glee, Supernatural, The Colbert Report, Greg the Bunny, and The Cleveland Show have made minor references.

See also

• Tough Pigs - Muppet Sexuality
• Snopes.com Bert & Ernie's Relationship
• Answers.com Bert & Ernie
• Gay Today Quotes
• ABC Brisbane - Eric Jacobson interview
• Stein, Jessica Max. The Rainbow Connection: Richard Hunt, Gay Muppeteer; Brooklyn, NY: Long Walk Press, 2009.
• "Hallo, wie wär's mit einem O?," Actual reference to the pair's relationship on the German version of the show

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Wolf, Buck "'Sesame Street' Threatens Lawsuit Over Gay Muppet Rumors" ABC News, April 9, 2002. Web.[1] (Accessed 11/1/09.)
2. ↑ Goodridge, Michael "The best films you can't see: Ernest & Bertram is the latest in a series of acclaimed queer films banned from public view because their makers stepped on some famous toes." The Advocate (The National Gay and Lesbian News Magazine), July 23, 2002. Web.[2] (Accessed 10/31/09.)
3. ↑ Andersen, Kurt The Real Thing; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1980.
4. ↑ Felion, Marc; Fernós, Fausto "Sesame Street Cred" Feast of Fools, podcast #926, February 6, 2009. Web.[3] (Accessed 12/29/09.)