Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie face sexual orientation controversy

The characters Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street have been the subject of long-standing public debate regarding their sexual orientation. While fans have speculated about the pair for decades due to their close relationship as roommates, Sesame Workshop has consistently maintained that the puppets have no sexual orientation, with former head Gary Knell stating they “are not gay, they are not straight, they are puppets.”

The controversy intensified in 2018 when longtime Sesame Street writer Mark Saltzman suggested in an interview that he had written the characters as gay, noting they were inspired by his own relationship. This led to a brief social media interaction where Sesame Workshop reiterated the characters' lack of orientation before deleting the post following user backlash. Additionally, creator Frank Oz has pushed back against these interpretations, noting that he and Jim Henson did not create the characters with such intentions.