New Yorker’s Bert and Ernie Gay Marriage Cover Sparks Divisive Rponse – The Hollywood Reporter

Contents:

• BERT AND ERNIE ARE ED A GAY UPLE, 'SAME STREET' WRER CLAIMS
• ARE BERT AND ERNIE A GAY UPLE? FALLY, THE ANSWER
• THE FIGHT OVER SAME STREET’S BERT AND ERNIE AS A GAY UPLE, EXPLAED
• EUROPEAN URT CL TO TAKE PRO-GAY MARRIAGE KE SE
• BERT & ERNIE CELEBRATE GAY MARRIAGE ON THE NEW YORKER'S COVER
• BERT AND ERNIE GAY MARRIAGE? SAME STREET SAYS NO
• ARE BERT AND ERNIE GAY?
• BERT AND ERNIE CELEBRATE GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY MARRIAGE 'BERT AND ERNIE' KE BAKERY FOUND GUILTY OF DISCRIMATN NORTHERN IRELAND
• SAME STREET SAYS BERT AND ERNIE 'DON'T HAVE A SEXUAL ORIENTATN' AFTER LONGTIME WRER CLAIMS THEY'RE GAY
• FALLY, THE TTH ABOUT THOSE BERT AND ERNIE GAY MOURS IS REVEALED BY A SAME STREET WRER
• NEW YORKER’S BERT AND ERNIE GAY MARRIAGE COVER SPARKS DIVISIVE RPONSE
• ARE BERT AND ERNIE GAY? ‘SAME STREET’ WRER SAYS HIS COMMENTS WERE MISTERPRETED
• BERT AND ERNIE GAY MARRIAGE KE REFED BY NORTHERN IRELAND BAKERY

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

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. 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 . Among homosexuals, Bert and Ernie of Same Street are the real thg.

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

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.

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

“In 1980, when I published my Bert & Ernie thg, there were still no out gay characters mass media.

EUROPEAN URT CL TO TAKE PRO-GAY MARRIAGE KE SE

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.

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.

BERT & ERNIE CELEBRATE GAY MARRIAGE ON THE NEW YORKER'S COVER

“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.

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.

BERT AND ERNIE GAY MARRIAGE? SAME STREET SAYS NO

“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.

ARE BERT AND ERNIE GAY?

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. 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.

BERT AND ERNIE CELEBRATE GAY MARRIAGE

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. Sign up for the daily Insi Washgton email for exclive US verage and analysis sent to your boxGet our ee Insi Washgton email A top European urt cled Thursday to le a high-profile discrimatn se centered on an activist's requt to have a ke rated wh the “Same Street” characters Bert and Ernie and the words “Support Gay Marriage.

In a week that's been marked by one of the most signifint steps forward for gay rights the Uned Stat, a lot of people are celebratg… cludg rints of Same Street. After all, when the characters buted 1969, was exceedgly mon for gay men to refer to their partners as "roommat, " and the tight relatnship between the adult Bert and Ernie-- they share a bedroom and do everythg together-- often read to adult ey as a mted, monogamo relatnship.

Two years ago, when New York State legalized gay marriage, a petn emerged askg Same Street to allow Bert and Ernie to get married.

GAY MARRIAGE 'BERT AND ERNIE' KE BAKERY FOUND GUILTY OF DISCRIMATN NORTHERN IRELAND

The Same Workshop's rponse did a pretty remarkable job of turng down the requt whout even a whiff of homophobia.

It's not that Bert & Ernie aren't gay bee that's a bad thg; 's bee they're characters ma for children who re way ls about romantic relatnships than learng how to share:Bert and Ernie are bt iends. So many children today are eher raised by gay parents or have iends who are, and most of them will grow up not unrstandg how uld have ever been a problem for two women or two men to marry and love each other.

But will be a long time before the kids who are of Same Street watchg age n unrstand the ncept that driv an assumptn that Bert & Ernie are, fact, a gay uple.

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

But there's a reason that Same Street don't have any puppets who are paired-off-- the puppets are the avatars for children on the show, and kids don't re one b about marriage, gay or otherwise.

But is an tertg of example of how kids learn about what means to love somebody, and how the issue of gay marriage uld be addrsed on the show the future-- but probably not wh Bert & Ernie. LONDON — A top European urt cled Thursday to le a high-profile discrimatn se centered on an activist’s requt to have a ke rated wh the “Same Street” characters Bert and Ernie and the words “Support Gay Marriage.

Refed to make the ke Lee Bakg Belfast, Northern Lawls / PA via APThe owners argued they were happy to bake goods for anyone but would not put msag on their products at odds wh their Christian said he was trated the se was thrown out on what he lled “a technily” and said that eedom of exprsn “mt equally apply to lbian, gay, bisexual and trans people. Two women who tied the knot Febary 2020 beme the first gay uple to wed Northern Ireland. Bloggers also took as a ht the large number of gay gut stars om that season, to which Same Street rpond, "We've always reached out to a variety of actors and athlet and celebri to appear on the show, and our programmg has always appealed to adults as much as children.

FALLY, THE TTH ABOUT THOSE BERT AND ERNIE GAY MOURS IS REVEALED BY A SAME STREET WRER

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). The shift the standard mor of gayns to clu s subjects actually gettg married is, I thk, a reflectn of the tim.

NEW YORKER’S BERT AND ERNIE GAY MARRIAGE COVER SPARKS DIVISIVE RPONSE

Joseph Chambers attempted to get the puppets banned unr a ltle-ed anti-gay law the ep South.

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

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":. ""It's amazg to wns how attus on gay rights have evolved my lifetime, " artist Jack Hunter, the artist told The New Yorker.

Get the ee Morng Headl email for news om our reporters across the worldSign up to our ee Morng Headl emailA Christian bakery which refed to bake a pro-gay marriage “Bert and Ernie” ke has been found guilty of discrimatn a landmark Bakg Company, which livers across the UK and Northern Ireland, had argued that the ke and s slogan “Support Gay Marriage” went agast their “scerely held” Christian givg her lg at Belfast County Court, district judge Isobel Brownlie said: "The fendants have unlawfully discrimated agast the platiff on grounds of sexual discrimatn.

BERT AND ERNIE GAY MARRIAGE KE REFED BY NORTHERN IRELAND BAKERY

"Undated file image shows the McArthur fay, owners of the Ashers Bakg Company which has been found guilty of discrimatn (PA)The bakery is n by the McArthur fay Belfast, employg 80 staff across ne branch, and had received fancial support s se om the Christian claimed the issue was wh the ke, not the person who orred gay rights activist Gareth Lee, who requted the ke to mark Internatnal Day Agast Homophobia last May, told Belfast County Court the refal ma him feel like “a lser person” rights activist Gareth Lee at Belfast County Court on 26 March 2015 (PA)Mr Lee has been strongly backed by the Northern Ireland Equaly Commissn, which set asi £40, 000 to ver legal urt se heard evince over three days March, and the high-profile se has divid public opn Belfast. In pictur: UK's first gay weddgs Show all 16And the poll found an even stronger majory - 65 per cent of rponnts - disapproved of the cisn by the Equaly Commissn to brg legal the Republic of Ireland looked set to bee the first untry the world to approve same-sex marriage by public vote, remas a highly ntent issue Northern Ireland.