Who are Bert and Ernie? Are they dating? Are they together? Before all the rumors and facts, let’s get to who they really are? and something more about their professional life. Basically, Bert and Ernie are two Muppet characters. The Muppets are altogether a unit of puppets created by Jim Henson in 1955.
Originally owned by The Jim Henson Company, also known as Muppets, Inc., Henson Associates, Inc., and Jim Henson Productions, Inc., located in Los Angeles, California. This company is mainly known for the revolution in the field of puppetry.
At first, it was a short-form television series Sam and Friends (1955-1960). It gained the limelight after appearing on Sesame Street (1960-present) and experienced global recognition. These characters were originally performed by Frank Oz and Jim Henson. At first instance, Bert was performed by Henson, and Oz performed Ernie.
But after their first rehearsal, they switched the characters and lifted them up. Until the death of Jim Henson, who played Ernie in 1990, the character was then played by two more people, Steve Whitmire and Billy Barkhurst, and is now currently performed by Peter Linz.
The thought behind this show was to show that two people who have different mindsets and thinking can be friends and be together. Ernie, usually foolish, idiotic, and taking rash decisions, comes up with an idea, and Bert gets frustrated by it.
In an episode of Bert and Ernie, Bert is quietly reading the newspaper, and Ernie comes up with something and exclaims excitedly but. Bert calms down and explains to be quiet and let him concentrate, but still, he keeps on messing up and gets Bert frustrated at the end.
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Are Bert and Ernie Dating? Are They Gay?
The Muppets Bert and Ernie live together in an apartment which is located in the basement of 123 Sesame Street. They live in the same room, and in spite of sharing the same room and bedroom, they have their own beds and sleep separately. Due to all these suppositions, there are rumors of them being gay couples.
Opposing this, Sesame Workshop keeps denying the supposition and rumors regarding them as gay. Although they live the same and share the same bedroom, they are just best friends. Moreover, Bert is shown interacting with female characters in the show and having an interest in them.
Many of the first episodes show his interaction with female characters, and also a prominent example is Bert singing to Connie Stevens and expressing his feelings in the early first segments of The Muppet Show. However, in September 2018, one of the scriptwriters for Sesame Street, Mark Saltzman, claimed that Bert and Ernie were related to his own relationship with film editor Arnold Glassman in an interview with Queerty.
To that, Sesame Workshop replied that Bert and Ernie are just good friends and do not possess any sexual desires, and they are just puppets. Frank Oz, who is the pioneer and the one who created most of the muppet characters for The Jim Henson Associates, clears up whether Bert and Ernie are gay or not. In a tweet, he says that “I created Bert. I know what and who he is”. Clarifying the misunderstanding and rumors, he further states that.
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Frank Oz, who originally performed Bert, further stated that Bert and Ernie are not gay, saying that, “They’re not, of course, a gay couple. But why that question? Does it really matter? Why the need to define people as only gay? There’s much more to a human being than straightness or gayness.” Further, Sesame Workshop shed light on their “friendship” by stating, “No, Bert and Ernie aren’t gay — they’re ‘best friends.”
Further, Oz wrote, “When a character is created to be queer, it is indeed important that the character be known as such. It is also important when a character who was not created queer be accepted as such”. Oz kept tweeting about the facts on Twitter and telling his followers he felt he couldn’t call Bert and Ernie gay because, in his mind, it wasn’t honest.
He also tweeted, “The same need I would feel if Bert were identified as a linebacker for the Colts. It’s not honest.” and also thanked everyone by saying, “Been tweeting way too long. But it was good. And I learned something profound. Thanks to those who tweeted with me. Next time I would be very interested to know: If Bert and Ernie were indeed gay, would they be different than they are now?”
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