Is Bert, a yellow puppet who teaches children about friendship and counting on the show Sesame Street, gay with other, uh, male, I guess, puppets? Did he come out of the puppet-closet on Twitter? The Los Angeles Times investigates.

Did you always think Bert and Ernie, erstwhile roommates and characters on a television show aimed at preliterate children, were "totally gay"? Congratulations! You are like every other person who has watched the show in or after middle school, ever. Of course, there was never any proof that either of the two characters were gay... until now:

Bert: Ever notice how similar my hair is to Mr. T's? The only difference is mine is a little more ‘mo,' a little less ‘hawk.'Fri Jun 11 16:56:15 via web

Sesame Street
sesamestreet

Do you get it? "Mo," as in "homosexual"? Because, for real, what the hell kind of a joke is he trying to make, if not a gay joke? Is this the proof we've all been waiting for?! The Times, in an article called, no kidding, "Some 'Sesame Street' viewers sense a gay-friendly vibe," addresses the rumors:

Reading "mo" as slang for homosexual, gay bloggers rejoiced. To some, it seemed as if "Sesame Street" was aiming sly in-jokes directly at them, right under the noses of unsuspecting straight viewers. Ed Kennedy of the gay pop culture site AfterElton.com noted that the tweet came during a week when many cities were hosting Gay Pride celebrations. "The people at Sesame Street are way too clever for their own good," he wrote.

Too clever... or too gay?! The Times marshals the evidence for the gayness of The Real Housewives of Sesame Street:

  • Noted lesbian and famous comedian Wanda Sykes appeared on the show (GAY METER: Off the charts)
  • Noted gay person and famous television star Neil Patrick Harris appeared on the show, and played a character called "the shoe fairy" (GAY METER: Stratospheric)
  • The show parodied well-known HBO drama True Blood, which has gay characters (GAY METER: Unmeasurably gay)
  • Famous, best-selling musician Will.i.am sang a song about "accepting who you really are," and what you really are is probably gay (GAY METER: So gay the meter is broken)

I'd say the case is closed. Please enjoy the above YouTube video, entitled "Bert & Ernie: Watersports."

[LAT]