By LAURIE WHITWELL



'Best friends': Sesame Street producers say the muppet duo are platonic



Put away the confetti, send back the wedding present. Bert and Ernie are not getting married.



Sesame Street yesterday responded to a campaign to get the Muppet couple to walk down the aisle on camera by insisting the famous roommates are just 'best friends' and as they are puppets 'do not have a sexual orientation'.



'Bert and Ernie are best friends,' the PBS show said in a statement posted today on its Facebook page. 'They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves.





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'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.'



Nearly 1,000 people 'liked' the post.



The statement came in response to an Internet petition started earlier this week urging that the two Muppets get married.



As of yesterday, nearly 5,000 people had signed the petition in favour of an on-screen marriage between the couple.





Activist: Lair Scott launched the campaign last week - after New York state legalised gay marriage



'Let Bert & Ernie Get Married On Sesame Street', a petition at change.org started by Illinois resident Lair Scott, was started after New York became the sixth, and largest, state to legalise gay marriage on June 24.



Questions have been raised over Bert and Ernie's sexuality since the Muppet duo first appeared on the small screen in 1969.



And since they live on Sesame Street in New York City, it would now be legal for them to get married.





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source: dailymail