***UPDATED***
#2: New York Magazine weighs in, asking this morning, “Is Sesame Street Gay Friendly, or Just Friendly?,” and offers an historical perspective. And this: “But even if, as the Times says, “Sesame Street isn’t intentionally drawing in families with gay parents,” those parents are embracing the show. But is that actually because of Wanda Sykes, Katy Perry, and a Bert tweet? Or even because Grover may be pro-gay-marriage? Or because bighearted Sesame Street continues to do its job: being inclusive and welcoming enough that everyone can see in it what they want to see.”
#1: This seems to be a major story, and Ed Kennedy, who originally broke the news, has just released an important update. Stay tuned for more developing information.
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For some strange reason, the gay Sesame Street media machine works awfully slow. Back in June (yes, Pride month,) Sesame Street’s Bert (photo, right) tweeted, “Ever notice how similar my hair is to Mr. T’s? The only difference is mine is a little more ‘mo,’ a little less ‘hawk.’” AfterElton’s Ed Kennedy, back in June, wrote, “The people at Sesame Street are way too clever for their own good.â€
Well, the people at Sesame Street have responded. LezGetReal reports, “Ellen Lewis, Sesame Workshop’s vice president of corporate communications has stated that the show is not consciously trying to appeal to gay audiences. She has stated ‘We’ve always reached out to a variety of actors and athletes and celebrities to appear on the show, and our programming has always appealed to adults as much as children. Honestly, the idea that anyone would interpret (this season) that way never crossed our minds.'”
Oh, of course not…
Via Wikipedia:
“Bert and Ernie live together in an apartment in the basement of 123 Sesame Street. In earlier episodes they slept in the same bed but due to controversy, made the beds separate. Although they now sleep in separate beds, they share a bedroom, which has led some to suggest that they are representations of gay lovers. This is denied by Sesame Workshop,[6] and some of Bert’s interactions with female characters appear to show that he is attracted to women: serenading Connie Stevens in the Some Enchanted Evening segment of a first-season episode of The Muppet Show, and recording a song about his girlfriend, I Want to Hold Your Ear, which was released on several albums. But the idea of Bert and Ernie as a couple is sufficiently widespread that it has been used as the basis of jokes on the shows Saturday Night Live, Family Guy, Supernatural, Glee, Friends, American Dad!, The Mentalist, Skins and The Cleveland Show. In the musical Avenue Q, two of the show’s puppets, Rod and Nicky are a clear reference to Bert and Ernie, however in the musical, Rod, who would be Bert’s counterpart, is gay but in denial, and has a crush on Nicky, Ernie’s counterpart, who is straight. Nicky goes to lengths to try to get Rod to admit his sexuality, but makes it clear he would be supportive of him.”
The news is all over the Internets today.
Stay tuned.
The New Civil Rights Movement
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