Overthinking Bert & Ernie

Next year, Sesame Street turns 50. That includes two of the series' most beloved characters, BFF's Bert & Ernie, whose long time friendship has come under some unwarranted scrutiny of late after a former writer for Street was quoted in a magazine article the other day as saying he wrote sketches for the two Muppets based on his own relationship with a same-sex partner.

Mark Saltzman joined the Street writing staff in 1984, 15 years after Bert & Ernie debuted. Frank Oz & the late Jim Henson based their characterizations of the roommates on their own long-standing friendship. Sesame Workshop has stated that there are no questions about Bert & Ernie's sexual orientation, other than the fact that they are heterosexual, and always have been. Saltzman, for his part, has walked back his remarks that were published in the heretofore unknown LGBT publication Queerty, according to today's New York Post, stating his remarks were misinterpreted.

Before I go any further, here's a classic Bert & Ernie skit:

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If anything else, the legendary Muppets are used as teaching tools for pre-schoolers, Sesame Street's target audience. They're also regarded among the great comedy teams of all time, including the likes of, at least in this writer's opinion, Abbott & Costello, Laurel & Hardy, Bugs Bunny and either Elmer Fudd or Daffy Duck, Shaggy & Scooby-Doo, and Fred Flintstone & Barney Rubble. While we live in an increasingly inclusive, progressive society, taking a piece of our childhood, and remolding it to fit these societal changes, is itself open to interpretation. There've been rumors for years about Bert & Ernie. It's time to put those rumors to rest.