Why matters that Bert and Ernie are gay, which they are - The Verge

Contents:

• THE FIGHT OVER SAME STREET’S BERT AND ERNIE AS A GAY UPLE, EXPLAED
• BERT AND ERNIE ARE ED A GAY UPLE, 'SAME STREET' WRER CLAIMS
• SAME STREET SAYS BERT AND ERNIE 'DON'T HAVE A SEXUAL ORIENTATN' AFTER LONGTIME WRER CLAIMS THEY'RE GAY
• ARE BERT AND ERNIE A GAY UPLE? FALLY, THE ANSWER
• FRANK OZ WEIGHS ON 'SAME STREET' WRER SAYG BERT AND ERNIE ARE GAY
• THE MAKERS OF 'SAME STREET' ISSUED AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT REGARDG BERT AND ERNIE'S SEXUALY, AFTER A FORMER WRER SAID HE VIEWED THEM AS A GAY UPLE
• ARE BERT AND ERNIE GAY?
• NO, BERT AND ERNIE AREN'T GAY — THEY'RE 'BT IENDS,' SAYS 'SAME STREET'
• WHY MATTERS THAT BERT AND ERNIE ARE GAY, WHICH THEY AREWHY MATTERS THAT BERT AND ERNIE ARE GAY, WHICH THEY ARE
• ARE BERT AND ERNIE GAY? ‘SAME STREET’ WRER SAYS HIS COMMENTS WERE MISTERPRETED
• BERT AND ERNIE WERE GAY (AT LEAST THE MD OF ONE SAME STREET WRER)
• ARE ERNIE AND BERT GAY? WHO GETS TO SAY?
• SAME STREET DISPUT WRER'S CLAIM THAT BERT AND ERNIE ARE GAY
• BERT & ERNIE ARE NOT GAY, SAME STREET SAYS STATEMENT
• FORMER 'SAME STREET' WRER REVEALS BERT AND ERNIE ARE GAY COUPLE

THE FIGHT OVER SAME STREET’S BERT AND ERNIE AS A GAY UPLE, EXPLAED

Are Bert and Ernie gay? Same Street has always had one nsistent official answer (no, they’re not), but that hasn’t stopped the two famo felt roommat om beg gay ins and occupyg a unique role the queer rights movement.

Controversy over their perceived homosexualy has raged termtently for s, spearhead by both alli and adversari — and a new flare-up shows that ’s not gog away anytime soon.

BERT AND ERNIE ARE ED A GAY UPLE, 'SAME STREET' WRER CLAIMS

The official negatn was echoed by puppetmaster Frank Oz, who origally performed Bert oppose Jim Henson as Ernie, and who stated on Twter that “They’re not [gay], of urse. For those queer fans lookg for narrative subtext, there’s plenty to be found the personas of Bert and Ernie; after all, there’s a reason we as a culture have been discsg their relatnship for s, a reason that they ntue to be held up as gay ins across generatns — and a reason people have spent s beg hoppg mad about . It’s all pretty gay!

SAME STREET SAYS BERT AND ERNIE 'DON'T HAVE A SEXUAL ORIENTATN' AFTER LONGTIME WRER CLAIMS THEY'RE GAY

Among homosexuals, Bert and Ernie of Same Street are the real thg. Bert and Ernie nduct themselv the same lovg, discreet way that lns of gay men, women and hand puppets do.

“I don’t believe there was much public discsn, ser or otherwise, about the crypto-gayns of The Odd Couple the 1960s and ’70s, ” he wrote an email. “That kd of disurse only appeared ncerng work about straight characters by gay wrers — most famoly, whether Who’s Aaid of Virgia Woolf was somehow ‘really’ about a gay uple, ” he add.

“In 1980, when I published my Bert & Ernie thg, there were still no out gay characters mass media. The piece of the zegeist I was rpondg to was, jt a after Stonewall (which BTW occurred a few months before Same Street premiered) and the first pri march, the hly ‘normalized’ nature of out gayns plac like New York.

ARE BERT AND ERNIE A GAY UPLE? FALLY, THE ANSWER

The nversatn between Saltzman and terviewer Reddish is illumatg and poignant, equently returng to Saltzman’s experience as a young gay man the early ’80s, one fdg his way out of the closet jt as the AIDS epimic was begng to be wily unrstood.

“I n remember pchg to the tn partment, the gatekeepers of the curriculum, gay ntent, jt to get off my nscience. But there was one place Saltzman was able to sert his own lived experience as a gay man to his wrg, and that was through the personas of Bert and Ernie.

“There is a difference, ” he told the Tim, between “brg[g] what you know to your work” and “Bert and Ernie beg gay. But ’s also important to note that if Saltzman’s origal ment to Queerty that “when I was wrg Bert & Ernie, they were” lovers was te, seems to have been an impulse born out of the ep existential crisis of beg gay durg the AIDS epimic.

FRANK OZ WEIGHS ON 'SAME STREET' WRER SAYG BERT AND ERNIE ARE GAY

It was an era when an entire culture was unr attack — if not om the disease directly, then om the many homophobic parameters that arguably worsened the spe of the tragedy.

In that era, primarily due to homophobic agators, Bert and Ernie beme perpetually discsed parts of the so-lled “gay agenda.

In the ’90s, Bert and Ernie were drafted to the “homosexual agenda. In the ’90s, Bert and Ernie beme viewed by some as threateng elements of a homosexual liftyle that was perceived as encroachg upon a mastream heteronormative culture. In 1993, the New Voice, a regnal gay newspaper, reported that Tupelo, Mississippi, gay panic had spng up over the appearance of Bert and Ernie as part of a Same Street tour stop at a lol arena.

THE MAKERS OF 'SAME STREET' ISSUED AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT REGARDG BERT AND ERNIE'S SEXUALY, AFTER A FORMER WRER SAID HE VIEWED THEM AS A GAY UPLE

“Tupelo lism officials say they’ve been bombard wh ncerned parents wantg to know if two of the fictnal characters are gay, ” the newspaper noted. “Officials say mors that Same Street’s Bert and Ernie characters are supposedly portrayg a homosexual uple have circulated across the untry.

If this isn’t meant to reprent a homosexual unn, I n’t image what ’s supposed to reprent. “Bert and Ernie, who’ve been on Same Street for 25 years, do not portray a gay uple, and there are no plans for them to do so the future, ” reads a statement om 1993 llected by Snop. In 2000, one wrer displayed Bert and Ernie dolls at his same-sex weddg as a repudiatn of the homophobic enzy around the characters; 2002, the Same Street Workshop stopped circulatn of a cult die film lled Ernt and Bertram that rest the characters as gay.

ARE BERT AND ERNIE GAY?

In 2010, discsn of the queerg of the Same Street characters was fully mastream, prompted part by a tweet om the official Same Street acunt that read to some as nfirmatn of Bert’s homosexualy. The ke had been orred, ironilly, as a way to memorate the Internatnal Day Agast Homophobia.

Given that Bert and Ernie have been repeatedly drafted to the gay agenda by homophob, ’s a matter of, well, pri, for queer fans to subversively view them as a joyo reprentatn of a posive queer relatnship — which is why Same Street’s nial on Tuday stck many people as homophobic. As long as Bert and Ernie uld be queer, they will ntue to enrage homophob who seek to e them to imply a gay nspiracy to filtrate mastream pop culture. A former wrer for Same Street said a recent terview that he nsired Bert and Ernie to be gay — but the show rebutted this claim, sayg the puppets “do not have a sexual orientatn.

NO, BERT AND ERNIE AREN'T GAY — THEY'RE 'BT IENDS,' SAYS 'SAME STREET'

“I always felt that whout a huge agenda, when I was wrg Bert & Ernie, they were [gay], ” Saltzman said. ’ But those two… you had characters that appealed to a gay dience. Frank Oz is voice of dozens of puppets and muppets as one of Jim Henson's earlit llaborators — and now the storied puppeteer is lendg his voice to the bate over whether or not "Same Street" characters Bert and Ernie are gay.

WHY MATTERS THAT BERT AND ERNIE ARE GAY, WHICH THEY AREWHY MATTERS THAT BERT AND ERNIE ARE GAY, WHICH THEY ARE

Mark Saltzman was asked if Bert & Ernie are gay. Why the need to fe people as only gay?

ARE BERT AND ERNIE GAY? ‘SAME STREET’ WRER SAYS HIS COMMENTS WERE MISTERPRETED

There's much more to a human beg than jt straightns or gayns. "Director/producer/puppeteer Frank Oz pos for a portra at the "Muppet Guys Talkg - Secrets Behd the Show the Whole World Watched" at the 2017 SXSW Wkelmeyer / Getty Imag for SXSW fileOz ntued to go back-and-forth wh people rpondg to his tweet who asked why the lorful puppets uldn't be gay. Bert and Ernie were created to be bt iends, and to teach young children that people n get along wh those who are very different om themselv, " the workshop said a statement emailed to NBC ntued to take to Twter, tellg followers he felt he uldn't ll Bert and Ernie gay bee his md wasn't asked why he felt the need to intify the puppets as "not gay, " Oz replied: "The same need I would feel if Bert were intified as a lebacker for the Colts.

Next time I would be very terted to know: If Bert and Ernie were ed gay, would they be different than they are now?

For years, dienc have bated whether Bert and Ernie are Same Street's rint gay uple.

BERT AND ERNIE WERE GAY (AT LEAST THE MD OF ONE SAME STREET WRER)

But their iendship has been the subject of much bate over the years and many speculated that the two are fact a gay uple. Why People Thk Bert and Ernie Are a Gay Couple.

ARE ERNIE AND BERT GAY? WHO GETS TO SAY?

The mors led to a number of public sentments om Same Workshop statg that they are not a gay uple, but are simply bt iends. Mark Saltzman, ex-wrer for Same Street, alleged that Bert and Ernie were based on his timate gay relatnship wh a worker — but should be noted that Saltzman is not the creator of Bert and Ernie. Another reason the bate has gone on so long is om the unrlyg homophobia that l our society and, up until recently, domated the media.

People fear what they don't unrstand, and many the LGBTQ+ muny believe that those who ny that Bert and Ernie may be a uple are beg homophobic, takg issue wh the implied queerns. "The statement after former "Same Street" wrer Mark Saltzman said a recent terview that he viewed Bert and Ernie as a gay uple. Same Workshop issued a statement Tuday regardg Saltzman's ments a recent terview, where he said that he viewed Bert and Ernie, "Same Street's" separable bt buds, as a gay uple.

"Bert performer Frank Oz even weighed on the bate wh a Tuday tweet, sayg "They're not, of urse [a gay uple]. It has long been whispered that Same Street's Bert and Ernie are gay. They're not even homosexual (if ed 's possible for mere puppets to be sexual).

SAME STREET DISPUT WRER'S CLAIM THAT BERT AND ERNIE ARE GAY

The shift the standard mor of gayns to clu s subjects actually gettg married is, I thk, a reflectn of the tim. Joseph Chambers attempted to get the puppets banned unr a ltle-ed anti-gay law the ep South.

Bert and Ernie, who've been on Same Street for 25 years, do not portray a gay uple, and there are no plans for them to do so the future. Though 's impossible to p down where the "Bert and Ernie are gay" mor began, one potential source is The Real Thg, a 1980 Doubleday book by Kurt Anrsen. In this book (which purports to be "A gui to separatg the genue om the ersatz, the men om the boys, and the wheat om the chaff"), Anrsen mak the whimsil claim that among homosexuals, Bert and Ernie are "the Real Thg":.

A former "Same Street" wrer says he wrote Bert and Ernie as a gay uple. Saltzman explaed that, as a gay man, when he wrote Bert and Ernie segments for the show, he imaged the pair as a "lovg uple.

BERT & ERNIE ARE NOT GAY, SAME STREET SAYS STATEMENT

""I always felt that whout a huge agenda, when I was wrg Bert and Ernie, they were (gay). Straight, gay, or otherwise, the pair is as fabulo as ever our ey. Plenty of Muppets are romantic relatnships, so who r if a uple of obvly gay puppets are gay?

Sce began airg 2013, Steven Universe has featured multiple queer characters and relatnships, cludg a gay weddg (wh a kiss!

But not all creators have had the wherewhal or the abily to do that, and the stori behd Adventure Time and Legend of Korra’s now-inic gay moments are of siarly uphill battl wh varyg his “Korrasami is non” post, Korra -creator Bryan Konietzko said Nickeloon had put “lims” on how much of Korra and Asami’s buddg romance was allowed to be picted on screen.

FORMER 'SAME STREET' WRER REVEALS BERT AND ERNIE ARE GAY COUPLE

No, thank that so many people’s mds — some of whom sisted that they were no way homophobic, and how dare anyone imply otherwise — immediately went there pats a pretty damng picture of society’s wispread abily to see queerns as anythg other than vulgar and sexual. And their stubborn nial of Bert and Ernie’s upledom spe so many other straight Muppet upl existg, Same Workshop played to exactly the prejudic that Rebec Sugar and other creators like her have worked so hard to subvert: that queer characters don’t belong stori told to pats a damng picture of society’s wispread abily to see queerns as anythg other than vulgar and sexualThe qutn of whether Bert and Ernie “are” actually gay is kd of a different one, but ’s worth addrsg. Bee if you ignore the fact that blatantly exists to rerce heteronormativy a children’s show, yeah, I gus Same Workshop’s statement uld be terpreted as jt clearg up the Same Street as Saltzman clarified an terview wh the New York Tim today that was fely not done unr prsure om Same Workshop, he never actually said Bert and Ernie were gay.

” The distctn is small, but matters, not least of all bee leav room for plsible niabily on the part of Same Workshop and other, ls forward-thkg members of the team behd Same Street’s inilly gay puppets.

But ’s a cisn supported by homophobia and outdated, rrect views about queerns, which are the only reasons that Bert and Ernie shouldn’t jo the pantheon of officially sanctned Same Street Muppet upl—right next to Osr and beg said, there’s another si to the subjective nature of Saltzman’s refully word terview, and works favor of Same Street’s more progrsive dience, rather than those who would mimize Bert and Ernie’s queerns: Regardls of how and why Bert and Ernie were created, thanks to Saltzman, we now know that for 15 years they were specifilly wrten to be a gay uple, moled after one man’s relatnship wh the love of his life.