Mark Saltzman has written for the legendary kid’s show since 1984, and told Queerty that the Bert and Ernie characters reflected on his own relationship with film editor Arnold Glassman.

“I remember one time a preschooler (in San Francisco) turned to her mum and asked ‘Are Bert and Ernie lovers?’ and that, coming from a preschooler, was fun.

“That got passed around, and everyone had their chuckle and went back to it.

“And I always felt that without a huge agenda, when I was writing Bert and Ernie, they were. I didn’t have any other way to contextualise them.”

Saltzman said he was definitely the Ernie, with his then-partner being the Bert.

“Yeah, I was Ernie.

“I look more Bert-ish. And Arnie as a film editor — if you thought of Bert with a job in the world, wouldn’t that be perfect? Bert with his paperclips and organisation?

“And I was the jokester. So, it was the Bert and Ernie relationship, and I was already with Arnie when I came to Sesame Street.

“So I don’t think I’d know how else to write them, but as a loving couple. I wrote sketches … Arnie’s OCD would create friction with how chaotic I was. And that’s the Bert and Ernie dynamic.”

This revelation is more meaningful than a chuckle amongst the grown-ups – Pink News reported that a petition was set up to get Bert and Ernie married on Sesame Street, following the legalisation of same-sex marriage in the US.

Sesame Street quickly shut down the story, insisting that Bert and Ernie are merely “best friends”:

Eh, we’re siding with the guy who actually WROTE the script! Bert and Ernie 4 evs!

Image: HBO

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