# Bert And Ernie Sexual Orientation Controversy

The Bert and Ernie sexual orientation controversy is a long-running online debate over whether the two Sesame Street Muppet roommates are a gay couple. It hit the mainstream with a 2013 New Yorker cover of the pair watching DOMA fall and blew up again in 2018 when a former show writer said he had written them as gay based on his own relationship.

## Overview
The Bert and Ernie sexual orientation controversy is the recurring public argument over whether the two male Sesame Street Muppets who share a bedroom at 123 Sesame Street are actually a gay couple[1]. Fans have speculated about the pair since the show began, since Bert and Ernie were written as adult roommates with a close bickering-couple dynamic even though they slept in separate beds[1].

Sesame Workshop pushed back every time the question came up. The most-quoted line came from then-Workshop head Gary Knell, who said in the 1990s that Bert and Ernie "are not gay, they are not straight, they are puppets" and "do not exist below the waist"[2]. That answer satisfied almost no one, and every new pop-culture moment involving the pair kicked off the same fight online[2].

## How It Spread
On June 27, 2013, The New Yorker ran a cover called "Moment of Joy" by artist Jack Hunter, showing Bert and Ernie snuggled on a couch watching the Supreme Court strike down the Defense of Marriage Act[3]. Hunter said he had originally posted the image unsolicited to a Tumblr, and it became one of the widely circulated visuals tied to the DOMA ruling[3]. Sesame Workshop declined to comment on the cover, and that silence itself got picked apart in the LGBTQ press[2].

The controversy hit its loudest peak on September 16, 2018, when longtime Sesame Street writer Mark Saltzman told the LGBTQ site Queerty he had always written Bert and Ernie as gay because they were based on his own relationship with film editor Arnold Glassman[1]. Saltzman said friends actually called him and Glassman "Bert and Ernie," and that Bert's pet peeves were lifted from Glassman's[1]. Two days later, the Sesame Workshop Twitter account posted a statement repeating that the puppets have no sexual orientation, then deleted the tweet after users piled on[4].

On September 19, 2018, Frank Oz posted a thread pushing back on the reading, writing that he and Jim Henson never created the characters as gay and that Saltzman's experience was his own[4]. Saltzman then walked the interview back in The New York Times, saying he brought his life into his writing but was not claiming the puppets themselves are gay, and that a same-sex couple on Sesame Street should be done with human characters[1].

## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Bert And Ernie Sexual Orientation Controversy?
It is the ongoing online debate over whether the Sesame Street Muppets Bert and Ernie, who share an apartment at 123 Sesame Street, are a gay couple[1].

### Where did Bert And Ernie Sexual Orientation Controversy come from?
Viewers have speculated since the characters debuted in July 1969, but the modern controversy hit the mainstream with The New Yorker's 2013 "Moment of Joy" cover of the pair watching DOMA fall[3].

### What does Bert And Ernie Sexual Orientation Controversy mean?
It refers to the tug-of-war between fans who read Bert and Ernie as a queer-coded couple and Sesame Workshop, which has repeatedly said the puppets have no sexual orientation[2].

### How do you use Bert And Ernie Sexual Orientation Controversy?
The topic is used as shorthand for corporate silence around queer readings of children's media and gets cited whenever Sesame Workshop or the show's creators comment on the pair[2].

### Is Bert And Ernie Sexual Orientation Controversy still popular?
The debate died down after the September 2018 flare-up around writer Mark Saltzman's Queerty interview and the deleted Sesame Workshop tweet, but it still resurfaces whenever the characters are back in the news[1].

## References
1. [https://www.dailydot.com/irl/bert-ernie-gay-couple-sesame-street-twitter/](<https://www.dailydot.com/irl/bert-ernie-gay-couple-sesame-street-twitter/>)
2. [https://www.ibtimes.com/new-yorker-bert-ernie-gay-cover-sesame-workshops-silence-disservice-lgbt-community-1330089](<https://www.ibtimes.com/new-yorker-bert-ernie-gay-cover-sesame-workshops-silence-disservice-lgbt-community-1330089>)
3. [https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/cover-story-bert-and-ernies-moment-of-joy](<https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/cover-story-bert-and-ernies-moment-of-joy>)
4. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/bert-and-ernie-sexual-orientation-controversy](<https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/bert-and-ernie-sexual-orientation-controversy>)

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