Original Blog Entry: Online push for Bert, Ernie to have gay wedding on 'Sesame Street'

truesee — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 03:39:48 GMT

Online push for Bert, Ernie to have gay wedding on 'Sesame Street'

Rich Schapiro

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, August 9th 2011, 6:54 PM

Handout

Producers of Sesame Street say Bert and Ernie's relationship is purely platonic.

This idea isn't going to make a big splash with Rubber Duckie.

An online campaign to pressure the producers of Sesame Street into having lovable roommates Bert and Ernie get married is gathering steam.

Getting hitched would change things for Ernie, who has long sang about how his bath toy, Rubber Duckie, was the one.

More than 700 people have signed on to the petition, posted at change.org.

We are not asking that Sesame Street do anything crude or disrespectful, reads the petition for the muppet merger. It can be done in a tasteful way. Let us teach tolerance of those that are different.

A debate over the sexuality of Sesame Street's most famous duo has dogged the show since Bert and Ernie first appeared in 1969. The puppet pair sleep next to each other and bicker almost as much as a married couple.

But the producers of Sesame Street say Bert and Ernie's relationship is purely platonic.

Bert and Ernie are best friends, the non-profit Sesame Workshop said in a statement. They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves.

Even though the Sesame Street Muppets ... possess many human traits and characteristics, they have no sexual orientation.

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