First there was that debacle with Al Quaida, now someone’s trying to convince me that he was killed off of Sesame Street for being gay. Apparently Sesame Street bowed under pressure, modern kids are too sophisticated and raised questions about Bert and Ernie’s lifestyle that previous children hadn’t, and he was hit by a bus. They used this as a way to teach children about grieving.
Is this true?
uh, cite?
Well, the OP is spouting high-octane bullshit, but there is a small slightly-related issue at hand. I heard rumours after the death of Jim Henson that the Ernie chracter wuld be retired. That didn’t seem to happen, though. Were any significant changes made after Henson died?
IIRC, that dog muppet (the name escapes me now) was retired after Henson’s death. Sorry, I forgot where I learned that from, so I don’t have a cite.
CaptainQ… You mean Rowlf? If so, he’s been brought out of retirement. Voiced by Bill Barretta, who’s been doing him since 1996’s Muppets Tonight.
As I cruise through the IMDB to find that information, it appears the Kermit was the one retired (from Sesame Street, exclusively) after Henson’s death, and he still appears in re-airings of old bits.
Additionally - while Kermit’s (arguably) a more popular character (more so than Rowlf, at least… Ernie’s debatable, but I doubt it) and would have been harder to remove without problems, it certainly makes sense that he, as Henson’s ‘trademark’ character, would be the one retired.
whoops, I was wrong.
Bert was kicked to the curb.
Anal Scurvy, Snopes is often your friend:
http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/deadmupp.htm
http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/gaymupp.htm
The first link covers the rumors that Ernie (not Bert) was going to be killed, hit by a bus according to some rumors. Not true. I don’t understand why people think the producers of Sesame Street are so eager to teach little kids such a dreary lesson about death as to kill off a cute beloved Muppet character (yes, they did something like this when Mr. Hooper died, but he was played by a real person who did, in fact, die in real life).
The second link covers the Bert and Ernie are gay thing. I don’t think anyone with an IQ more than 85 seriously believes they are supposed to portray a gay couple. If anything I would think kids these days would be less likely to question such a thing anyway.
I thought everyone knew Bert is evil!
Tengu, neither Kermit nor Rowlf was retired. Kermit was taken over by (Atlanta native) Steve Whitmire, and has appeared many, many times since Jim’s death. I just watched the DVD of the recent TV movie Very Merry Muppet Christmas, and was very impressed; Whitmire’s really gotten the Kermit voice down. Some of Jim’s other characters, like Waldorf, still don’t sound quite right when voiced by other Muppeteers.
Of course, Steve Whitmire stood in for Jim on Kermit a few times even while Jim was still alive. He’s been at it for quite a while now.
Oops, I see now Tengu only meant Kermit was retired from Sesame Street, not from everything. Sorry.