Bonus video! Are Ernie & Bert a Couple?

Rob Kandell

I understand the denial *at the time*, as the artist’s intention was so far from that and the preacher’s claims amount to a false accusation. I also remember at the time the religious right going after Tinky Winky and a response article mentioning Bert & Ernie slipping under the radar.

Matt Baume

Yeah the Frank thing bummed me out at first too, but I'm glad he listened and came around. Seems like a real good person.

Muppetk

Wow I am so glad I watched this. I saw Frank Oz’s definitive They Are Not Gay tweet back when it happened and it upset me enough that I unfollowed him. I had not heard that he followed up with that second half where he thought about what he was challenged on a few days later and I feel so much better about the whole thing now. (I admit, I joined the patreon primarily for this video after watching the YouTube vid on Richard Hunt, and I feel good about that decision. Thank you!)

TBoneSF

That final tweet from Frank Oz literally made me cry. He made that tweet on my birthday and there's no more special feeling than knowing one of your lifelong heroes "gets it".

QueBijoux

Thank you for reviewing the history of B&E being perceived as gay, and the different responses to it. It's great to see how the Sesame Street powers that be have evolved with the times.

Hey Matt! I'm a new Patron and I just absolutely adore your channel. I've actually never felt inclined to join a Patreon until your channel-- you're my first time, hooray! Oy Vey That's Gay was the first video of yours I discovered and I've just been so very much into your content ever since. Your sense of humor and way of delivering information is just incredible, as is the research you put into every video. Your recent Richard Hunt video did me in and just had me feeling all the feels in the room. Seriously, thank you for your work. I plan to up my pledge in the future, but I'm happy to be here and help support what you do. Stay well!

Matt Baume

OMG of course they do. Also thank you for the heads up about this artist!!! Wonderful stuff.

Rose Capone

Giving credit to the preacher, they do share clothes... https://twitter.com/beartnie/status/1410759542409924612 (Post by the amazing beartnie, PLEASE check out the rest of their twitter, their art gives me life!)

Matt Baume

Haha I'm so glad! And yes she absolutely IS

Matt Baume

These are such good points! I can absolutely see Ernie and Bert as aro/ace, since romantic relationships (and certainly sexual ones!) almost never come up. Also you're absolutely right that sitcoms used to use the whole "same bedroom, separate beds" trope for married couples!

HEY! IT'S ME, VIVIENNE!

Fine. Muppets made me sub to you! Miss Piggy is THE KWEEN!

Bjørn-Tore

i really do hope they give us some gay muppets, also bert and ernie could be ace, and aro like they are two adults sharing a bedroom, now speaking as an aroace, this just makes me wonder what would happen if they ever got romantic partners. mostly since you know i have no idea what people would do in that situation, more so since they share a room, so like that just is fascinating to me when trying to understand the allosexuals. also didn't sitcoms use to give married couples like separated beds like that in the past?

Matt Baume

I think sometimes shows that have been around forever are very slow to course-correct -- it reminds me of how slow Star Trek was to adapt.

Matt Baume

Honestly I could answer that instantly about so many gay couples I know

Matt Baume

Yes! And that episode had a gay director!

Matthew

What a fun video! I’m kind of surprised Sesame Street doesn’t have a gay Muppet yet. It just seems like so many cartoons feature gay characters nowadays. One of my friends with small children was even telling me how watching Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts had a sweet coming out moment that had her small kids later telling off someone who said something homophobic.

Yonatan Zunger

So really, what straight people should have been asking gay couples all these years is "Which one of you is the Bert, and which one is the Ernie?"

Trevor

Though there aren't any gay Muppets on Sesame Street, a pair of gay human parents were introduced last month. https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2021/06/21/sesame-street-pride-month-episode/

Norman Buchwald

I stand corrected. Some research shows the artist who is still an artist did graduate from Colorado State University. He doesn't talk about this earlier painting (or display it) in the future. Hopefully he did not destroy it.

Art Conway

Wonderful video!

Matt Baume

Oh my goodness I hadn't heard about that. To be fair it does sound like it might've been quite explicit??? I wonder just how graphic it was. But it's not like anyone would have thought it was officially sanctioned by the show.

Norman Buchwald

Actually hopefully Children's Television Workshop has changed since back in the day if they really asked for the painting to be destroyed. I also remember follow up stories in the school newspaper where the student was so intimidated he changed schools. :(

Bryan Cybershaman(X) Logie

Thanks, Matt! 😀

Norman Buchwald

As a graduate of Colorado State, this came up back in the day: https://apnews.com/article/c114d8c69aa8f5ba645b0d4eb72abfd6 Amendment 2 passed in Colorado at the time so the writing of this AP article and how the student responded is truly sad. Hate really predominated back in the day.