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
• SAME STREET SAYS BERT AND ERNIE 'DON'T HAVE A SEXUAL ORIENTATN' AFTER LONGTIME WRER CLAIMS THEY'RE GAY
• WHY MATTERS THAT BERT AND ERNIE ARE GAY, WHICH THEY AREWHY MATTERS THAT BERT AND ERNIE ARE GAY, WHICH THEY ARE
• BERT AND ERNIE ARE ED A GAY UPLE, 'SAME STREET' WRER CLAIMS
• 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
• FRANK OZ WEIGHS ON 'SAME STREET' WRER SAYG BERT AND ERNIE ARE GAY
• ARE BERT AND ERNIE GAY? ‘SAME STREET’ WRER SAYS HIS COMMENTS WERE MISTERPRETED

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.

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

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!

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.

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

“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.

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

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.

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

“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.

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

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.

“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.