Bert and Ernie Gay Rumor: Settled

[Drtooth]

The concern some fans have about what could or could not be happening in the off-screen private lives of a couple of puppets never ceases to amaze me. I think the fear speaks for itself.

I've said it before... other than joke fuel, any rumor about Sesame Street just causes trouble. I agree... it's open to interpretation so long as it's just all in good fun. For a second, let's pretend that no one ever jumped to this assumption.

Veggie Monster? Oscar living in a recycle bin? I once heard a rumor that Oscar was going to be taken out of SS entirely. All bunk. I could randomly say something like Big Bird is supposedly based on John Lennon or The Count has a pet werewolf that was seen in one episode that had to be removed. People will believe it, they'll spread and only WE will know it's false.

 

[frogboy4]

I've said it before... other than joke fuel, any rumor about Sesame Street just causes trouble. I agree... it's open to interpretation so long as it's just all in good fun. For a second, let's pretend that no one ever jumped to this assumption.

Veggie Monster? Oscar living in a recycle bin? I once heard a rumor that Oscar was going to be taken out of SS entirely. All bunk. I could randomly say something like Big Bird is supposedly based on John Lennon or The Count has a pet werewolf that was seen in one episode that had to be removed. People will believe it, they'll spread and only WE will know it's false.

I agree. I had a customer come in the toyshop the other day and she claimed that Janice was based on some acting teacher she once had who looked just like the beloved Richard Hunt character. The teacher professed to be tight with Jim and that the design was inspired by her. Um...we know differently. Not only is that not the case, but Janice was originally designed by Frith as a dude and based on a big-lipped, emaciated Mick Jagger-style rocker.

I had a high school teacher (incidentally, he is subject was religious studies at my private school) who used the Muppets as an example of entertainment's use of toxic subversive messages being made through the characters. He stopped teaching this by the time I rolled around, but it was a notorious speech he would give about Fozzie Bear being some sort of alcoholic that nobody laughed with but everybody laughed at; and Miss Piggy as a cautionary tale of what happens to over-bearing women who don't embrace traditional femininity so they end up overweight, abusive and single. Mind you, this turkey would never repeat any of this information to me even when I asked. He knew better. But he never retracted his claims to the others with whom he shared this lunacy.

So yeah, I’ll always look at Bert and Ernie as longtime roommates, friends and a little bit more. I think Sesame Workshop, while denying it officially, turns a blind eye to such speculation. The Muppets are what you want them to be. If Fozzie Bear reminds you of your great uncle Larry, well that’s who he is to you. However, he is not, nor never will be, a sad drunk. I’m so glad to have gotten through that high school in three years. Ick!

 

[Drtooth]

I had a high school teacher (incidentally, he is subject was religious studies at my private school) who used the Muppets as an example of entertainment's use of toxic subversive messages being made through the characters. He stopped teaching this by the time I rolled around, but it was a notorious speech he would give about Fozzie Bear being some sort of alcoholic that nobody laughed with but everybody laughed at; and Miss Piggy as a cautionary tale of what happens to over-bearing women who don't embrace traditional femininity so they end up overweight, abusive and single. Mind you, this turkey would never repeat any of this information to me even when I asked. He knew better. But he never retracted his claims to the others with whom he shared this lunacy.

If that doesn't illustrate my point, I don't know what does. There's a difference between saying Shaggy from Scooby-Doo is a pot head in a passing joke, and parental groups that want to ban Scooby-Doo reruns because Shaggy's a pot head. People who see something sinister in innocent media that wasn't intended (certain cartoons DO manage to sneak stuff by... I could tell you stories) are bitter, miserable people who want to drag the candy coated dreams of youth down to the seedy depths of mystery they're in. Sort of like the bad guy in every one of those 80's girly shows that want to turn the rainbow gray so everyone will cry.

To me there's a difference between harmless Family Guy cutscene or Robot Chicken sketch and people like that jerk you just talked about. Harmless fun vs idiotic agenda. No one takes a joke seriously unless they're offended by it, but there ARE people who will take agenda seriously.

That said, if anyone brings back the "Dos teh cookie monstter eat teh cookys anymor?" thing up here ever again, it should be treated with automatic spamming. I've said it for years, but wouldn't you be more concerned if your kid ate foam rubber and trucks?

 

[RedShoebox]

This is probably not going to matter, but I just wanted to throw my two cents in.

To be honest, I could see Bert and Ernie either way, as a couple or just being friends. If SW someday decides to make them a couple (which I doubt will happen), then I'd be happy for them in making that decision. But for now, them being best buds is great (or, it's good enough for me, anyway).

But I am also wondering why Bert and Ernie are not on SS as often nowadays. It kinda dissapoints me.

 

[mr3urious]

Just wanted to show you this stupid petition:

http://www.change.org/petitions/let-bert-ernie-get-married-on-sesame-street

 

[Drtooth]

They realize that Ernie and Bert are supposed to be kids, right?

Bunsen and beaker however..... COME ON! Unlike Ernie and Bert, THE clues are there... MT episode Andie MacDowel, the end of LTS, and the Dust in the Wind video... all clues.

 

[TSSD]

Just wanted to show you this stupid petition:

http://www.change.org/petitions/let-bert-ernie-get-married-on-sesame-street

You gotta be kidding me! Seriously?!?!?!?

 

[frogboy4]

I guess this is somewhat of a litmus test. I don't see anything wrong or sinister here. I believe that they are intended to reflect whatever is in the eye of the beholder.

I'm a proud gay fella and see potentially gay ties with Ernie and Bert through my perspective, but that's not everybody's experience. Sesame Workshop can claim that they are supposed to be kids, but Bert's receding hairline and original performer have slyly contradicted this claim. They are what you want them to be and nothing's wrong with that.

Nonetheless, I don't think any of the Muppets on Sesame Street should have weddings. They are meant to be frozen in time.

 

[D'Snowth]

I guess since the switch, once locked threads are now wide open again, eh?

 

[Drtooth]

Nonetheless, I don't think any of the Muppets on Sesame Street should have weddings. They are meant to be frozen in time.

That's MY problem. not if they're gay or not, but NO Muppet character should ever marry each other. Not Oscar and Grundgetta (though, it would be great to see a grouch wedding... but 100% of grouch marriages would end in divorce... on purpose). Not even The Count and one of the Countesses (on the plus side, they get to count how many wedding guests they invite, and how many rose pedals the flower girl drops, but the Count isn't the settling down type). Having a baby, getting married... growing up like that is not for the ambiguously aged characters. Sure, Grover can't hold down a job, or at least has to take multiple ones for unexplained reasons... but that's as grown up as I want to see a Muppet character get.

Ernie and Bert, gay, straight, bi or otherwise are ambiguously aged kids as far as I'm concerned. Like Spongebob or maybe even Pee Wee Herman who IS an adult (though, he does show interest in Miss Yvonne, unlike the others mentioned).