After a former Sesame Street scribe said he wrote Bert and
Ernie “as a loving couple,” Sesame Workshop, the education organization
behind the children’s program, issued a statement proclaiming that the
beloved characters “do not have a sexual orientation.” “As we have
always said, Bert and Ernie are best friends. They were created to teach
preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very
different from themselves,” the statement read. “Even though they are
identified as male characters and possess many human traits and
characteristics (as most Sesame Street puppets do), they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation.”