Deep Inside Hollywood
Romeo San Vicente

Bert and Ernie outed from film festival

Bert and Ernie's long-rumored homosexuality has been
vehemently denied by the producers of "Sesame Street,"
who have prevented a gay-themed parody about the two
Muppets from screening in Cleveland. "Ernest and
Bertram," a short film that portrays the famed
children's show characters as gay lovers, was pulled
from the lineup of the Cleveland International Film
Festival after lawyers from the Sesame Workshop
threatened legal action. Sesame Workshop publicists
insist that the two characters are neither straight
nor gay, but merely lifeless, hand-operated puppets.
"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. I guess it still isn't safe for toys
to come out of the closet.

just my opinion

1. They produce shows (toys) for kids. Shows or toys that do not contain one tiny bit of sexuality, because they're aimed at kids 3 to 9 years-old, who shouldn't be in contact with sexual content. Okay, Barbie's sexy, but do kids notice her sexuality? No. They notice she's pretty, they wanna be pretty too.

2. The characters are copyrighted material. Showing such a movie (and making money from it) clearly enfringes those rights (yeah, I swear!).

3. They have an image to keep. Not a "anti-lesbian/gay/trans death to all homosexuals" image. A "we're a kids show made for kids" image. Btvs has an image as well. If a parody was to come out where Willow or Tara suddenly becomes nymphomaniac and starts sleeping around with pizza delivery guys, golf caddies and male gynecologists, Joss, and us, wouldn't like it.

I think we're getting much too sensitive as a community. Yes, there are prejudices to fight, there are a lot of issues that need to be resolved, lots of rights need to be respected. But this is not one of them.

Nowhere in their response did the companies mention gay or straight. As a matter of fact, they went out of their way to mention puppets don't have sexual orientations...