Sesame Workshop Forced to Clarify Bert-Ernie Relationship

After years of speculation on the sexuality of Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie, Sesame Workshop has been forced to make an official statement on the matter. It started when Mark Saltzman, a writer on the show for 14 years, told Queerty, "I always felt that without a huge agenda, when I was writing Bert and Ernie, they were ... a loving couple." A statement from Sesame Workshop quickly followed, per Boing Boing: "As we have always said, Bert and Ernie are best friends," the organization tweeted. "They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves. Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics … they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation." A later tweet adds that Sesame Street "has always stood for inclusion and acceptance." (More Sesame Street stories.)