Piers Morgan declared Sesame Street legends Bert and Ernie are “clearly gay” on Good Morning Britain earlier.
This followed a seemingly hastily written statement from the US kids’ show after a scriptwriter revealed he had always imagined them to be a couple.
Piers ranted: “I’m not having it. They are clearly gay. I watched Sesame Street.”
As Susanna rolled her eyes at the ridiculousness of the conversation, he then tore into the other characters.
He said to the hosts: “Is there now going to be a statement about Miss Piggy and Kermit?
“Was Kermit gender fluid after all? Was the marriage ever consummated? If not, was it a real marriage? We need to know these things.”
Showbiz correspondent Richard Arnold mused: “I wonder if any of the Muppets are strangely drawn to Big Bird.”
Susanna, appearing increasingly exasperated, pointed out she doesn’t think we need to sexualise characters from a kids show…
The outburst follows scriptwriter Mark Saltzman saying that he bases the characters on his relationship with his partner Arnold Glassman, in an interview with Queerty.
He told them: “I always felt that without a huge agenda, when I was writing Bert & Ernie, they were. I didn’t have any other way to contextualise them.”
Sesame Street’s subsequent statement read: “As we have always said, Bert and Ernie are best friends.
“They were created to teach pre-schoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves.”
“Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics (as most Sesame Street Muppets do), they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation.”
Strange, given that Miss Piggy has always been a very obviously sexual character… or is it one rule for one, another rule for another in puppet land…? We’re with Piers on this one!
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