Ernie and Bert are gay

Overview

This page discusses the long-disproven claim that the Muppet (hand-puppet) characters named Bert and Ernie on the children's television show Sesame Street were intended to represent a gay couple living together. In respose to pressure from the religious right, Sesame Street had the two move into separate quarters, and they are almost never seen on the show anymore despite their popularity (this from hearsay; confirmation needed).

Discussion

If this fracas had happened more recently, its would surely be deserving of an Issuepedia Wacky Award.

Among the messages which Bert & Ernie's separation broadcasts to young people are:

• If you think a pair of people are a gay couple, it's okay to assume they are even if they definitely aren't.
• Being gay is not okay.
• Gay people shouldn't live together.
• Men shouldn't live together even if they aren't gay (whatever happened to The Odd Couple? Laurel and Hardy??)
• It's okay to cave into far-right/religious groups (a specialty of the lefty leadership in Europe with respect to Islamofascism, and increasingly adopted by the Democratic leadership in the US in response to neoconservative accusations of being "soft on" various things such as terror).

Links

• Wikipedia: Bert and Ernie
• Snopes