Saltzman, who wrote for 'Sesame Street' from 1981 until 1990, said the duo's relationship was modeled after his own life with film editor Arnold Glassman, who was Saltzman's partner until Glassman's death in 2003. Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics (as most Sesame Street Muppets™ do), they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation,” the workshop said in a statement to NBC News. They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves. “As we have always said, Bert and Ernie are best friends.

However, Sesame Workshop, which produces the show, denies the pair are together, saying they have no sexual orientation but are best friends. The other thing was, more than one person referred to Arnie and I as 'Bert and Ernie.'' Bart made a brief appearance in an episode in 1974. Fun fact: Bert has an identical twin brother named Bart. 'I didn’t have any other way to contextualize them. Bert and Ernie, seen here in 1976, have been old pals since the beginning. No offense, rubber ducky, but the number one in Ernie’s life is Bert.'I always felt that without a huge agenda, when I was writing Bert and Ernie, they were,' Saltzman told Queerty.

And Snuffy, this depressed person nobody can see, that’s sort of Kafka! It’s sort of gay closeted too.” How could it not? I will say that I would never have said to the head writer, ‘Oh, I’m writing this, this is my partner and me.’ But those two, Snuffleupagus, because he’s the sort of clinically depressed Muppet… you had characters that appealed to a gay audience. How could it not permeate? The things that would tick off Arnie would be the things that would tick off Bert. “That’s what I had in my life, a Bert and Ernie relationship. So I don’t think I’d know how else to write them, but as a loving couple.” They squabble, but ultimately, they love each other, like a real couple: “So it was the Bert and Ernie relationship, and I was already with Arnie when I came to Sesame Street. “I was Ernie… And Arnie as a film editor - if you thought of Bert with a job in the world, wouldn’t that be perfect? Bert with his paper clips and organization? And I was the jokester,” he said. The other thing was, more than one person referred to Arnie and I as Bert and Ernie.”Īrnie is acclaimed film editor Arnold Glassman, Saltzman’s partner and “love of my life” who passed away in 2003.

The Sesame Street Muppet characters have appeared alongside Daveed Diggs in commercials for the DoorDash food delivery service. In a similar spirit, for some reason 'The Song of the Count' underscored a Toyota commercial. I didn’t have any other way to contextualize them. A commercial for the Delta Touch 2.0 faucet features the 'Hands' song as sung by Count von Count as the background music. And I always felt that without a huge agenda, when I was writing Bert and Ernie, they were. And that got passed around, and everyone had their chuckle and went back to it. When asked whether he thought of Bert and Ernie as a gay couple, Saltzman responded, “I remember one time that a column from the San Francisco Chronicle, a preschooler in the city turned to mom and asked, ‘Are Bert and Ernie lovers?’ And that, coming from a preschooler was fun.

During the pilot episodes, Jim Henson experimented with Ernie's eye focus at one point his pupils were set downwards instead of upwards. In a recent interview with Queerty, though, writer Mark Saltzman, who joined the show in 1984 (he also wrote The Adventures of Milo and Otis!), revealed television’s worst-kept secret: Bert and Ernie are more than just friends. Sesame Street Season 1 (1969-1970) The first Ernie puppet sports a purple and orange shirt, with a yellow collar and cuffs (resembling that of a turtle neck shirt), and has a purple nose. Bert and Ernie live together, play together, and sing together, but at no point during the 48-season run of Sesame Street has the obvious been confirmed.

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