The organisation behind popular children's TV show Sesame Street has denied that its characters Bert and Ernie are a gay couple, after one of the show’s regular writers claimed that they were.

Mark Saltzman, a longtime scriptwriter who has written over 50 songs for the show, said that the co-habiting characters’ relationship was based on his own with film editor Arnold Glassman. His comments were made in an interview with LGBTQ+ publication Queerty.

He said: “I remember one time that a column from The San Francisco Chronicle, a preschooler in the city turned to mom and asked ‘are Bert & Ernie lovers?’ And that, coming from a preschooler was fun.

“And that got passed around, and everyone had their chuckle and went back to it. And I always felt that without a huge agenda, when I was writing Bert & Ernie, they were. I didn’t have any other way to contextualise them.”

Sesame Workshop has since released a statement clarifying that “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,” the statement continues.

“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.”

Bert and Ernie – who were originally operated by Muppets creator Jim Henson and Star Wars puppeteer Frank Oz – have been regulars on Sesame Street since the children’s programme first aired in 1969.

Writer Jon Stone previously said that the characters’ relationship reflected the real life dynamic between Henson and Oz.