Sesame Street puppets Bert and Ernie might get married as thousands of online petitioners have urged has been answered with a definite no when their creators said they were just “best friends” who “do not have a sexual orientation”.
More than 5700 people have signed an online petition at Change.org urging the striped-shirt-wearing puppets, who sleep in the same room and whose sexuality has long been debated, be allowed to wed.
“We are not asking that Sesame Street do anything crude or disrespectful,” the petition reads.
“It can be done in a tasteful way. Let us teach tolerance of those that are different.”
But the non-profit Sesame Workshop said on its Facebook page today that there’s no wedding cake in the offing.
“Bert and Ernie are best friends,” the Workshop statement said. “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 (as most Sesame Street Muppets do), they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation.”
The petition also asked that Sesame Street producers consider adding a transgender character to the show, which premiered in 1969 on Public Broadcasting Service.
The online campaign has a companion Facebook page.
“Part of me is laughing and the other is crying,” one posting read. Another said, “Is Elton John going to play at the wedding?”
by Debbie Dot
