Sesame Street's Bert outted by Tweet?
Hugh Freaking Dillon
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He's lived with a man for 31 years and wears turtlenecks and saddle shoes, and rumors of his homosexuality have swirled for years. But no one's ever heard directly from Sesame Street's Bert on his sexuality, until now… sort of.
On June 11, the famous puppet tweeted about the recent "A-Team" remake by comparing himself to A-Team star Mr-T, saying, "Ever notice how similar my hair is to Mr. T's? The only difference is mine is a little more 'mo,' a little less 'hawk.'"
To some the comment was just a cute quip about hairstyles, but to others, "mo" was short for "homo" and this was Bert's way of coming out at the perfect time.
"Being sent right in the middle of Pride Month, it seemed like a fun coded message to us 'mos, and one that I was happy to pick up on," Ed Kennedy of the gay pop culture site AfterElton.com wrote on the site Monday.
Having been one of the first people to write about the tweet, Kennedy said it felt like, "a nice little 'in joke' for the gays, and nobody else the wiser about those two adult Muppets who have shared a bedroom for 30+ years."
Did Bert really out himself?
No, says Ellen Lewis, spokeswoman for "Sesame Street's" production company, Sesame Workshop.
"Our writer had no intention of implying anything by the tweet, no agenda and no idea that it would be interpreted any other way except that the 'A-Team' movie was out and Bert has, like, a mini-mohawk, so her intention was just a fun way to split up the word just to imply that his hairstyle is a shorter derivative of a longer Mohawk that Mr. T in the A-team wore," Lewis told FoxNews.com.
But this is hardly the first time Bert, or Ernie for that matter, has been accused of being gay.
"Bert and Ernie conduct themselves in the same loving, discreet way that millions of gay men, women and hand puppets do. They do their jobs well and live a splendidly settled life together in an impeccably decorated cabinet," writer Kurt Andersen says in his 1980 book "The Real Thing."
In 2002, Sesame Workshop blocked further showings of the short film "Ernest & Bertram," in which a character based on Ernie confesses his love for another character, based on Bert.
According to GayToday.com, Ernie was even asked directly about the alleged relationship at an appearance at Carnegie Mellon University, to which he replied: "All that stuff about me and Bert? It's not true. We're both very happy, but we're not gay."
Still Jarrett Barrios, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), says with more homosexual guests on this season, "Sesame Street" is growing more LGTB-friendly than ever.
"As more and more loving and committed gay and lesbian couples begin families, it's important that their children see representations of their families on their favorite shows," he told the Los Angeles Times. "'Sesame Street' has a long history of teaching children about diversity and acceptance, and I don't expect that our community will be left out of that education."
Lewis says Bert and Ernie don't have a sexuality -- "they're puppets" -- and they were created to teach kids to get along with people who are different.
"We just want to show that kids can remain friends with people who have different personalities," she said.
Kennedy writes, "If Sesame Street needs to push Bert back into the closet he shares with Ernie (in the bedroom with the twin beds), that's fine. We know the truth. *wink-wink*"
Gimli 1993
Fargo 2003
Winnipeg 2005
Winnipeg 2011
St. Paul 2014
Fargo 2003
Winnipeg 2005
Winnipeg 2011
St. Paul 2014
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That's what I hear anyway
I always figured Bert and Ernie were a couple, didn't you?
After all
jo
http://www.Etsy.com/Shop/SimpleEarthCreations
"How I choose to feel is how I am." ~ EV/MMc
"Some people hear their own inner voices with great clearness and they live by what they hear. Such people become crazy, or they become legends." ~ One Stab ~
- Christopher McCandless
9/29/04 Boston, 6/28/08 Mansfield, 8/23/09 Chicago, 5/15/10 Hartford
5/17/10 Boston, 10/15/13 Worcester, 10/16/13 Worcester, 10/25/13 Hartford
8/5/16 Fenway, 8/7/16 Fenway
EV Solo: 6/16/11 Boston, 6/18/11 Hartford,
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
Fargo 2003
Winnipeg 2005
Winnipeg 2011
St. Paul 2014
not that there's anything wrong with that.
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
I would have, but i can never get past trying to figure out what kind of a bird Gonzo is...
Unlike most of the central Muppets characters, Gonzo is not a puppet version of a human or a recognizable animal. He is a muppet who sports a bizarre, non-human appearance, which includes blue fur, purple feathers on his head, bug-eyes, and a long, hooked nose. In The Muppet Show he performed as a performance artist, stuntman and daredevil under the name "The Great Gonzo" (or "Gonzo the Great"). He takes pride in his iconoclasm, while romantically pursuing Camilla the Chicken (also a Muppet); indeed, Gonzo is friend to all chickens and the Muppet Show's recognized expert on the species. In his early performances, Gonzo often complained about the people who did not appreciate his "art". He looks alot like an Indian Peafowl because he has the head dress and he is blue.
A running gag related to Gonzo is that it is not clear what species he is supposed to be. John Cleese, in his appearance on the show, referred to him as "the ugly, disgusting little one who catches cannonballs". In The Muppet Movie, Kermit, while having his inner conversation, says "And a thing, whatever Gonzo is. He's a little like a turkey.", to which his inner self replied "Yeah, a little like a turkey, but not much." In the film The Great Muppet Caper, he is shipped to England in a crate labeled "Whatever" (while Kermit the Frog and Fozzie Bear are respectively labeled "Frog" and "Bear"). In the Muppet Treasure Island CD-ROM Game, Gonzo and Rizzo The Rat land in a bucket of molasses, following the dialogue of a Carriage Driver saying "It's raining rats and... whatevers". In The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, Gonzo played a Tin Man-ish character primarily known as the "Tin Thing". In Muppet Babies, Gonzo (voice of Russi Taylor) was simply referred to as a "weirdo" or "blue weirdo". He has referred to himself as a "whatever", resigned to ignorance of his actual species. In one episode, he dreams that he is an anteater. In Muppets from Space, it is revealed that Gonzo is an alien.
When Liberace, as a guest on The Muppet Show, organized a production number with birds, Gonzo longed to get his chicken friends into the act; when told by Liberace's Muppet bodyguard that Liberace had no interest in chickens, Gonzo tried to arrange an appointment for himself, claiming "I'm a bird! I'm a turkey!" When the bodyguard expressed doubt, Gonzo elaborated: "Have you seen my act?!" The bodyguard accepted Gonzo's turkey status without further argument.
In contrast, in the holiday television special A Muppet Family Christmas, The Turkey says Gonzo is "not even a bird" to which Gonzo replies "Well, nobody's perfect."
- Christopher McCandless
6/12/08 - Tampa, FL
8/23/09 - Chicago, IL
9/28/09 - Salt Lake City, UT (11 years too long!!!)
9/03/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 1
9/04/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 2
He is Chris Robinson as a muppet.
6/12/08 - Tampa, FL
8/23/09 - Chicago, IL
9/28/09 - Salt Lake City, UT (11 years too long!!!)
9/03/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 1
9/04/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 2
Yes, but remember. This is children, and homosexuality is wrong. We cannot let them even discover the reality of homosexuality. Shelter them as much as possible, it's the only way.
6/12/08 - Tampa, FL
8/23/09 - Chicago, IL
9/28/09 - Salt Lake City, UT (11 years too long!!!)
9/03/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 1
9/04/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 2