The big question about two piles of felt and their sexuality rose to the surface once again when a Sesame Street Writer Confirms He Always Wrote Them Like Gay Couple. David Reddish's interview with Mark Saltzman had most of us cheering in agreement and not really altering too much of our perspectives on the orange and unibrow couple.
When we watched them many moons ago, or last week, we would think, are they brothers? best friends? an early version of Chandler and Joey? were they a couple? What did you think they were?
But what do kids these days think they are? And does it matter what Bert and Ernie are? Does it matter to the kids or does it just matter to the adults?
When asked about the two characters and their relationship most shared they were either best friends or brothers. Good. That's nice. But what if they were a couple? When kids were told of that scenario, they were largely positive about that being an option.
Let's see their responses.
“People just need to get over it. There’s worse things in the world than a boy dating a boy, and a girl dating a girl.”
“Kids should know these things, and not grow up to be like ‘that's weird’ and ‘ew!'.
You can find the info on the kids' ages and about the creators over on YouTube.com. Some of the kids seemed to have some pretty good, almost prepared responses and were there any that were negative about it? We may not know.
Of course Bert and Ernie's sexuality is not a new debate. I think I personally might have talked about it in school long ago in the '80s, but just in passing and not on a national scale.
Besides Reddish's interview is just one of the more resent "let's talk about Sesame Street in regard to gay couples." Remember when the New Yorker released the cover below titled Bert and Ernie’s “Moment of Joy” regarding the US Supreme Court and Marriage Equality.
“It’s amazing to witness how attitudes on gay rights have evolved in my lifetime,” said Jack Hunter, the artist behind next week’s cover, “Moment of Joy.” Hunter, who originally submitted his image, unsolicited, to a Tumblr, continued, “This is great for our kids, a moment we can all celebrate.” – newyorker.com