Sesame Street Writer Confirms Bert and Ernie Are Gay

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Finally confirmed

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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."

And now, awaiting the reich wing pearl clutching...

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Twitter has taken note...

[Flossie]

Actually...

Are Bert and Ernie Gay? ‘Sesame Street’ Writer Says His Comments Were Misinterpreted
By Sarah Mervosh
Sept. 18, 2018

Are they or aren’t they?

For decades, we’ve wondered: Are Bert and Ernie gay? The iconic “Sesame Street” duo live together, share a bedroom and don’t seem shy about taking a bath in front of each other, so …

The recurring question shot back into our consciousness this week after a former “Sesame Street” writer who is gay said in an interview that he wrote Bert and Ernie as a “loving couple,” taking inspiration from his own relationship with his longtime partner.

Mr. Saltzman, who was a writer for “Sesame Street” in the 1980s and ’90s, now says that his comments were misinterpreted.

He said that he and his partner, Arnold Glassman, who died in 2003, were much like Bert and Ernie, opposites who found a way to love each other. “As a writer, you just bring what you know into your work,” he said in a phone interview on Tuesday night.

“Somehow, in the uproar, that turned into Bert and Ernie being gay,” he said. “There is a difference.”

Mr. Saltzman is among a group of writers who have written scripts and songs for all the “Sesame Street” characters.

He said he did not restrict Bert and Ernie to one sexual orientation, or any at all. While he believes that “Sesame Street” should include a gay couple in its programming, he said it should be done with human characters, not puppets.

As for Bert and Ernie, “they are two guys who love each other,” Mr. Saltzman said. “That’s who they are.”

Frank Oz, who helped create Bert and Ernie nearly a half century ago, said on Twitter on Tuesday that the characters were not gay.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/18/arts/television/bert-ernie-gay-sesame-street.html