Sesame Street: Bert & Ernie just ‘friends’
Sesame Street denizens Bert & Ernie are just friends, according to an anonymous spokesman for the eternal children’s program, and will not be getting married.
Pals.
“Bert and Ernie are best friends. 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,” said Sesame Street on its Facebook page Thursday.
The statement was made in response to an online petition calling for Bert and Ernie to get married.
Bert and Ernie could not be reached for comment because they are not people.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
303 comments Add your comment
matt
August 11th, 2011
3:07 pm
Bert is not a christian or gay- just because I don’t approve doesn’t mean I hate. However the argument that people should be tolerant of others because they are “just being me” does not hold water. You don’t approve of me having sex with a horse?? Why? Because it’s unnatural? Disgusting? Immoral? Doesn’t make sense? Hmmmmmm… Since the idea of man and woman was in order to procreate with a partner in the bond of marriage…
Texican- God made Charles Manson, what’s your point?? Are you trying to argue now that God purposely made serial killers?? Further proving the argument that you are born and then become a product of your environment. God made man, what man does with their life (the choice of free will) is just that, his choice. God did not make drug dealers and serial killers any more than he made gays and lesbians.
Saying that you were “born this way” exempts you from the guilt of knowing that at some point something happened to push you in that direction.
Bill
August 11th, 2011
3:07 pm
Texican – I recommend you reading the Bible. He didn’t make ‘gay’. He didn’t make the paedophile, the adict, those with violent tendencies, etc. These are all the effects of sin. We are designed by God and His original intent has been soiled by sin. Read the first few chapters of Genesis to see what the intent of both man and woman were. Please show me where God has said anything other than that is acceptable. Nowhere in His word is your view held in a Godly manner.
daculafan
August 11th, 2011
3:10 pm
I think it’s funny that so many people are so up in arms over a t.v. show. What’s really funny to me is that people don’t even realize that the whole thing was started on facebook as a joke. Because people have been saying for years “Gee I bet Bert and Ernie are gay…they should just get married” it’s water cooler humor. I’m pretty sure that the people who started it have no “Agenda” it’s just sophomoric humor and everybody is about ready to declare armageddon over a joke.
People we’ve got our government tanking our economy, a congress that can’t agree that water is wet because it may erode their political position, terrorism running rampant, good middle class families going to financial ruin and on the streets and you’re worried because somebody may CARE that Bert and Ernie were gay or straight..c’mon folks
Cute Girl
August 11th, 2011
3:10 pm
@ Bill – You have just spoke a very intelligent, educated mouthful. No one can argue with anything you said because you speak on biblical and scientific level, which addresses Christians and Non-Christians. Love it!!
BERT IS NOT A CHRISTIAN OR GAY
August 11th, 2011
3:11 pm
wow i wish some of you right-wing fruit cakes would invest in an education….you really sounds dumb as a box of bricks. seriously…
Cute Girl
August 11th, 2011
3:15 pm
Bert is not. . . .:
I did invest in an education, which explains why I graduated at the top of my class with about $50,000 worth of debt. . . now what?
Zimride
August 11th, 2011
3:15 pm
How old is Ernie? How old is Bert? When was the last time you saw Bert or Ernie with a female? If I am right, they live in the same house together and sleep in the same room. Yo! its LOVE
Rodney
August 11th, 2011
3:16 pm
First – many of you here, especially those who keep reciting the Bible, don’t seem very Christ like to me.
Second, hey @Bill – heterosexuals who are sterile are “a mutation and a flaw” as well? What about heterosexuals who choose to not procreate at all?
For the record, and please try and wrap your brains around this, I did not choose to be gay. I was born this way. I have (still, even at 40 years old) a Mother and a Father who were both very instrumental in my upbringing so not only was I born gay, I wasn’t the result (as some of you thumpers like to believe) of a female only household or absentee Father.
Why in the world would someone choose to spend their life as a target of the hatred and vile that’s so evident here in these comments? So don’t tell me anything about a “choice” – you don’t know what you’re talking about. You just sound angry and scared.
I, on the other hand, am happy to be who I am – who I was born to be.
REALITY CHECK
August 11th, 2011
3:18 pm
U ALL WANT TO ATTACK GRAMMAR NOW B/C THAT IS YOU’RE ONLY BASIS FOR ARGUMENT NOW B/C U KNOW WHAT SHE SAYING IS CORRECT….LOL….EVERYBODY HAS THE RIGHT TO FEEL HOW THEY FEEL……I’M STEADFAST IN MY FAITH SO NOTHING NO ONE SAYS CAN SWAY ME ONE WAY OR THE OTHER AND MY FAITH, HOMESEXUALITY IS WRONG….AND THE MEDIA HAS SOLD IT’S SOUL….WILL DO ANYTHING TO CREATE A BUZZ FOR RATINGS AND MONEY….YOU’RE LIFESTYLE CHOICE IS YOUR BUSINESS BUT QUIT TRYING TO THROW IT ALL IN PEOPLE’S FACES AND TRYING TO MAKE IT SEEM LIKE IT’S JUST OKAY? B/C IT’S NOT……AND IT’S SAD THAT WE ARE EVEN TRYING TO EXPOSE THE YOUTH TO THIS CRAP AND MAKE IT SEEM LIKE IT’S OKAY…..
Reverie
August 11th, 2011
3:18 pm
Trillions and Trillions of dollars in debt we cannot repay, wars on two fronts, starvation and poverty throughout the world AND WE WANT TO DEBATE THE SEXUALITY OF PUPPETS? Great, we can get to this hard hitting issue just as soon as we can find a cure for cancer. Until then, this will be a stupid waste of time.