The New Yorker magazine’s latest cover managed to convey celebration for the Supreme Court’s recent same-sex ruling while taking a shot at an icon of American traditional values: Sesame Street.
The magazine’s cover image shows Bert and Ernie in a darkened room, snuggling on a couch, a television picture of the Supreme Court justices in the background.
It’s called “Bert and Ernie’s Moment Of Joy,” and the magazine said that an artist named Jack Hunter submitted the image to a Tumblr site, The Huffington Post reported.
To the New Yorker’s Culture Desk, Mr. Hunter said: “It’s amazing to witness how attitudes on gay rights have evolved in my lifetime. This is great for our kids, a moment we can all celebrate.”
Sesame Street, meanwhile, has denied for years that Bert and Ernie are gay.
In 2011, the company said the characters are puppets – they “do not have a sexual orientation.”
They issued that statement in response to a petition started by gay activists to have the characters come out and announce their homosexuality on a Sesame Street episode, and then marry.
“Bert and Ernie are best friends,” the company said in 2011. “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.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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