COLUMN: Bert should not be killed off just because he may be gay
Before long, everyone in the near vicinity was recalling fond memories of "Sesame Street."
Favorite characters and skits were thrown around, until someone mentioned that Bert was possibly no longer a part of the show. I was shocked! I could not imagine "Sesame Street" without Bert and Ernie.
Ernie needed Bert for stability. The pair's humor was dependent on Bert playing the part of the straight man.
I knew that changes had been made to the show since the time when I had been a regular viewer, but those changes never altered the fundamentals of the program before.
New characters had been added to the cast of Muppets (Elmo and Oscar the Grouch's niece) and Mr. Snuffalumpagus stopped being just Big Bird's imaginary friend (he can now be seen by everybody -- he's real).
The change to Snuffy's character was not enormous; the only difference in the show would have been that Big Bird did not have problems convincing everyone that Snuffy existed.
Making Snuffy real was not as drastic as giving the Pink Panther a voice, but removing Bert from the show would be a monumental and unjust change.
The question which kept running through my mind was, "What could have possibly motivated someone to feel that Bert's character should be canceled?" There was more than just sentiment to argue in favor of the Muppet.
Plenty of old footage has Bert in it, so does this mean that all of that footage would become trash overnight?
"Sesame Street" is not meant to be a profit-yielding production; the show is still running the same low quality film clips as it was when we were children.
Very little has changed because children still need to learn the numbers and the letters. "Sesame Street" can get by with playing the same basic material forever because the audience is constantly changing, and young children do not mind listening to stories repeatedly.
How can "Sesame Street" afford to lose so much material (all of the skits with Bert in them can no longer just be thrown into the middle of a show)?
Purely based on the financial cost of such a change, someone would need to feel very strongly that the change was necessary.
I should point out now that I did research this rumor and no "Sesame Street" characters have died or are scheduled to die (Bert is still alive). However, the fact that such a heinous rumor could be treated seriously is only a comment on our society.
The rumor is worthy of comment regardless.
According to the rumor, Bert died on the show from some disease, and the reason necessitating his demise was that certain groups felt Bert and Ernie's living arrangement was suggestive of homosexuality.
Thus, in the best interest of the kiddies, Bert was killed off in order to avoid confusion about the sexual roles of Muppets.
Maybe I'm unusual, but I never thought of Bert and Ernie as homosexual Muppets. There were two separate beds, and each bed was labeled with the first letter of the occupant's name.
The Village People Muppets could have led an "alternative lifestyle" as far as I was aware, but then again, they were Muppets (colored foam with eyes glued on and human voices).
Simply thinking that Bert and Ernie might suggest homosexuality seems a bit drastic to me, but the rumored solution of removing Bert was definitely wrong.
It seems obvious that people were just searching for little points to use for creating problems.
Children are not terribly concerned with the sexual orientation of the Muppets on television unless that becomes the focus of the TV show.
In this case, kids are quick to pick up on the importance of such an issue by the power of suggestion. If a group of parents felt that watching "Sesame Street" might be harmful to their child's development, then it's not that difficult to change the channel or simply turn the television off.
It's not fair for one group of special interests to protect the globe from influences which it recognizes as potentially harmful.
The production of public television should not be limited by the whims of a minority.
This is especially true when the threat consists of children patterning their sexual behavior after Muppets on television.
This item appeared in the Opinion section of the September 22, 1995 issue.
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