‘Sesame Street’ Writer Confirms: Bert And Ernie Are Gay — And One Is Jewish
Bert and Ernie at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Image by Getty Images/Michael Stewart/Contributor
By PJ Grisar September 20, 2018
In a September 16 interview “Sesame Street” writer Mark Saltzman put years of speculation to rest, letting the world know that Ernie and Bert are a gay couple — at least, he wrote them that way.
Saltzman told Queerty that while he worked on scenes between the odd couple roommates, he drew from his own relationship with his late partner, Arnold Glassman, and their sometimes tense dynamic. Who was who? Saltzman said he was carefree and playful, like Ernie, whereas Glassman was a tad more OCD and anal-retentive, a la Bert. Given this new bit of background, we wondered: Were Bert and Ernie written as Jewish?
The Forward reached out to Saltzman to find out, and within an hour we had our answer.
“Heavy-hearted, long-suffering Bert, yes. Ernie? Goyishe kopf,” Saltzman wrote in an email.
It’s not known to us how Bert and Ernie spent Yom Kippur, but we imagine Ernie wasn’t so strict with the fasting, much to Bert’s dismay.
PJ Grisar is the Forward’s culture intern. He can be reached at [email protected].
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
