{"id":2716,"date":"2018-09-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-09-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.smooth.com.au\/uncategorised\/clone-sesame-street-writer-confirms-bert-and-ernie-are-gay-couple\/"},"modified":"2018-09-19T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-09-19T00:00:00","slug":"clone-sesame-street-writer-confirms-bert-and-ernie-are-gay-couple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.smooth.com.au\/entertainment\/clone-sesame-street-writer-confirms-bert-and-ernie-are-gay-couple\/","title":{"rendered":"Sesame Street writer confirms that Bert and Ernie are a ‘loving couple’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark Saltzman has written for the legendary kid\u2019s show since 1984, and told Queerty<\/em><\/a> that the Bert and Ernie characters reflected on his own relationship with film editor Arnold Glassman.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember one time a preschooler (in San Francisco) turned to her mum and asked \u2018Are Bert and Ernie lovers?\u2019 and that, coming from a preschooler, was fun.

\n\t\t\u201cThat got passed around, and everyone had their chuckle and went back to it.

\n\t\t\u201cAnd I always felt that without a huge agenda, when I was writing Bert and Ernie, they were. I didn\u2019t have any other way to contextualise them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Saltzman said he was definitely the Ernie, with his then-partner being the Bert.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I was Ernie.

\n\t\t\u201cI look more Bert-ish. And Arnie as a film editor \u2014 if you thought of Bert with a job in the world, wouldn\u2019t that be perfect? Bert with his paperclips and organisation?

\n\t\t\u201cAnd I was the jokester. So, it was the Bert and Ernie relationship, and I was already with Arnie when I came to Sesame Street.

\n\t\t\u201cSo I don\u2019t think I\u2019d know how else to write them, but as a loving couple. I wrote sketches \u2026 Arnie\u2019s OCD would create friction with how chaotic I was. And that\u2019s the Bert and Ernie dynamic.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This revelation is more meaningful than a chuckle amongst the grown-ups – Pink News <\/a>reported that a petition was set up to get Bert and Ernie married on Sesame Street, <\/em>following the legalisation of same-sex marriage in the US.<\/p>\n

Sesame Street <\/em>quickly shut down the story, insisting that Bert and Ernie are merely \u201cbest friends\u201d:<\/p>\n\n

Please see our statement below regarding Bert and Ernie. pic.twitter.com\/6r2j0XrKYu<\/a><\/p>— Sesame Workshop (@SesameWorkshop) September 18, 2018<\/a><\/blockquote> \n