Former 'Sesame Street' Writer Says Bert And Ernie Are Gay

(CBS4) -- It's been speculated about for years. Are Bert and Ernie a couple or just roommates? One former writer for the iconic children's show says the beloved 'Sesame Street' characters are, in fact, homosexual.

The duo was originated by Frank Oz and Jim Henson and they have been on the show since it started 1969.

Mark Saltzman, who joined the show in 1984, told recently told Queerty he wrote Bert and Ernie as a gay couple.

Saltzman, who is gay, told Queerty, "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 contextualize them."

"I don't think I'd know how else to write them, but as a loving couple," he was quoted as saying.

However, Sesame Workshop said in a statement that the popular characters "do not have a sexual orientation."

"As we have always said, Bert and Ernie are best friends. They were created to teach preschoolers 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," Sesame Workshop said.

TMZ cited Frank Oz, a longtime puppeteer on the show as saying Bert and Ernie are not gay -- but that it shouldn't matter one way or the other.

"It seems Mr. Mark Saltzman was asked if Bert & Ernie are gay. It's fine that he feels they are. They're not, of course," TMZ quoted Oz as saying. "But why that question? Does it really matter? Why the need to define people as only gay? There's much more to a human being than just straightness or gayness."