Contact

About

Ernest and Bertram

Children's Television Workshop is threatening legal action against the short film Ernest and Bertram. The eight-minute mock documentary by Peter Spears depicts Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie as angst-ridden gay lovers. It played at the Sundance Festival earlier this year, where program notes described it as: "Lillian Hellman visits Sesame Street. A tale of rumors, innuendo, and felt as the secret lives of childhood icons are revealed." (Unfortunately, the "View Entire Film Online" button at the Sundance website doesn't seem to work). The Guardian notes:

Gossip about the private life of the pointy-headed, pedantic Bert and the benign, cuddly Ernie is nothing new. Back in 1993, CTW even went so far as to issue a statement which appeared to insist that the duo were red-blooded Sesame straights: "Bert and Ernie, who've been on Sesame Street for 25 years, do not portray a gay couple, and there are no plans for them to do so in the future. They are puppets, not humans."

Geez, couldn't they at least follow Tom Cruise's lead and add something like, "Bert and Ernie do not disapprove of puppets who lead a homosexual lifestyle, but ..."?
Guardian | Sundance Online (Apr 2002)

More on the Ernest and Bertram affair... Legal threats from Children's Television Workshop forced the Cleveland International Film Festival to drop scheduled screenings of Ernest and Bertram last month. Planet Out reports:

"Sesame Street" producers were also reportedly disturbed by the fact that the 8-minute film showed Ernest shooting himself in the head after a tumultuous fight with Bertram. In a similar story, Mattel recently got its panties in a bunch and banned the screening of "Barbie Gets Sad, Too," an Argentinean film that shows the doll having lesbian sex with her Latina servant.

In his regular ABC News column, Buck Wolf discusses CTW's legal campaign against Ernest and Bertram and traces the history of Bert and Ernie gay rumors:

Even before this incident, Ernie and Bert have been under constant attack. In 1993, TV Guide received dozens of letters railing against Sesame Street for condoning a homosexual relationship. Shortly after, a North Carolina preacher began a campaign on his radio show to ban them for their immorality. In Hollywood Urban Legends, critic Richard Roeper traces the rumors of Ernie and Bert's sexuality to Spy magazine founder Kurt Anderson, who once joked that "Bert and Ernie conduct themselves in the same loving, discreet way that millions of gay men, women and hand puppets do. They do their jobs well and live a splendidly settled life together in an impeccably decorated cabinet."

The second half of Wolf's column deals with the Bert is Evil website, which CTW also successfully shut down through legal bullying.
Planet Out | ABC News (Apr 2002)