I was the one who “libeled” the puppets.
Katie Herzog dragged Michael, our fresh-faced and bushy-bearded Slog AM intern, through the mud for writing that Bert and Ernie are gay. I have to take full responsibility here—I’m Michael’s editor and added “Bert and Ernie Are Gay” into the headline.
But listen, I took a quarter of mass media law at the University of Washington and had a sit-down meeting with The Stranger’s lawyer about libel when I first got hired. So, I’m basically a master of constitutional law. That aside, I also spent the better part of my teenage years embroiled within television fandom where the topic of “queerbaiting” was brought up constantly.
Queerbaiting isn’t a familiar term for you all? Not surprised. It’s the possibly-real-possibly-imagined-by-rabid-fanbases phenomena where a show hints at but never actually depicts a same-sex romantic relationship between characters. The argument is that this is done for ratings; shows, typically with male leads and terrible diversity, give out little bread crumbs—long, lingering glances, delicate touches between two characters—that viewerships read into that are never capitalized on.
This raises the question: has Sesame Street been queerbaiting us all along?
Probably not.
However, while I have your attention, that show that I mentioned earlier dangled the possibility of a relationship between two characters for seasons on end. It’s called Supernatural—I know, I’m not proud—and during one the frothiest and gayest episodes (Season 5, episode 3: “Free To Be You and Me”) one half of that pair says this to the other:
Dean Winchester: “Let me tell you something. There are two things I know for certain. One, Bert and Ernie are gay. Two, you are not gonna die.”
This shit! It’s layered! First of all, that line is… well, a whole lot. There have been entire character analyses done by the fandom on this line. They have a lot of time on their hands. But, just taking that line on its own, no context, it feels like there’s something more there, wouldn’t you say?
Sesame Street viewers probably feel this way about Bert and Ernie. And what’s the harm? Art is inherently subjective, right? Plus, as Katie points out in her piece, “one-time Sesame Street writer Mark Saltzman said… he loosely based their relationship on the one he has with his husband.” That seems like enough fodder to fuel a gay Muppet fire for me. Also, as Michael pointed out in the research for his defense, Saltzman is credited as a writer of 31 episodes on Sesame Street, not just one.
There is no definitive answer here. Frank Oz, the creator of the show, said that Bert and Ernie aren’t gay. Katie uses this as proof of Michael’s my puppet libel. But, authorial intent cannot necessarily be used as fact.
Can you still enjoy art from Orson Scott Card knowing he was an allegedly huge bigot? Is My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy ruined forever because Kanye thinks slavery was a choice? And are Bert and Ernie definitely not gay because Frank Oz, a 74-year-old white man says so?
Jury’s out.
