RTTue, 18 Sep 2018 20:40 UTC
© Larry Downing / Reuters
A writer for Sesame Street has confirmed the long-running theory that the kids show's beloved characters Bert and Ernie were actually a same-sex couple.
Sesame Street writer and songwriter Mark Saltzman says the famous roommates were inspired by his own relationship with his life partner, film editor Arnold 'Arnie' Glassman, who he was with for over two decades until Glassman's death in 2003.
Saltzman, who joined the show's writing team in 1984, said people would often refer to him and Glassman as Ernie and Bert, respectively, and he didn't have any other way to "contextualise" the characters.
"I remember one time that a pre-schooler [in San Francisco] turned to her mum and asked 'Are Bert and Ernie lovers?' and that, coming from a pre-schooler, was fun," Saltzman told
Queerty.
Saltzman, who won seven Emmys for his work on the children's show, said he was already in a relationship with Glassman when he joined Sesame Street and didn't "know how else to write" Bert and Ernie other than "a loving couple". He said the dynamic between the duo and their individual characteristics often resembled that of his own relationship.
"I was Ernie," he said. "And Arnie as a film editor - if you thought of Bert with a job in the world, wouldn't that be perfect? Bert with his paper clips and organization? And I was the jokester.
"Arnie's OCD would create friction with how chaotic I was. And that's the Bert and Ernie dynamic."
Comment: Puppets can be gay?
Update: From RT:
Sesame Street has denied claims by a former writer that the kids show's beloved characters Bert and Ernie were in fact a same-sex couple.
The show issued a statement clarifying that Bert and Ernie were "best friends," and "do not have a sexual orientation," in response to comments made by Sesame Street writer Mark Saltzman, suggesting the puppets were gay.
Saltzman told Queerty in an interview that when he was writing for the characters, he had always felt that they were gay. "I didn't have any other way to contextualize them," he said, adding that they were inspired by his own relationship with his life partner Arnie Glassman.
For many, his remarks appeared to confirm what they had long speculated about the TV roommates' sexualities. However, the affirmation was short lived as Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization that produces Sesame Street, countered the claim, reiterating that the characters were puppets with no sexual preference.
Frank Oz, the man who created the grumpy puppet Bert, also took to Twitter to declare the characters were not gay. He said that there was more to a person than their sexuality and dismissed the question as irrelevant.
Both tweets resulted in a backlash from angered fans questioning why the creators felt the need to refute Saltzman's comments.
Meanwhile, other users pondered how in this day and age people were arguing over the sexuality of puppets.
Comment: Puppets can be gay?
Update: From RT: