After collaborating with Sesame Steet‘s Bert and Ernie, Jonathan Bailey is not beating the heartthrob of the era allegations.

The Wicked: For Good star featured in two short online segments on Sesame Street, and in one scene, which went down particularly well with fans, he cuddled up next to Elmo.

The pair were sweetly encouraging people to take a moment for themselves, to think about friends and family, and all the good things to come. It serves as a much-needed moment of respite and tenderness in the current climate.

 

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Fans of Bailey took to the comments to share their thoughts on the segment.

​​“I think if Jonathan Bailey put his arm around me and told me he was proud of me, that would fix me,” one Sesame Street viewer wrote.

Another comment reads “Being jealous of Elmo wasn’t on my 2025 list but here we are”.

The second clip includes none other than Bert and Ernie, a particularly popular duo among the queer community. The three of them boogie and pun it up, referencing Bailey’s character from Wicked and Wicked: For Good, which hits cinemas today.

 

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In the past, Sesame Street writer Mark Saltzman has openly stated that he wrote Bert and Ernie based on his own relationship with film editor Arnold Glassman. He spoke with Queerty on the subject in 2018. 

Despite this, Sesame Street has officially stated that Bert and Ernie are not homosexual, after rebuffing an online petition for Bert and Ernie to get married in 2011.

“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,” said an official statement by Sesame Workshop.

In 2014, Bert and Ernie’s relationship was part of a public debate again, when a baker in Northern Ireland refused to bake a cake supporting marriage equality with the pair.

Saltzman also spoke of other gay-inspired, queer-coded Muppets, like Snuffalupagus, a mammoth-like muppet on the show. “You had characters that appealed to a gay audience. And Snuffy, this depressed person nobody can see, that’s sort of Kafka! It’s sort of gay closeted too,” he said.

Snuffalupagus was puppeteered by Richard Hunt, a gay man and long-time collaborator of Jim Henson and Mark Saltzman. Hunt died of AIDS-related illnesses in 1992.

Additionally, numerous LGBTQ+ creatives worked on the series. Of his time working on Sesame Street, Saltzman said: “It’s interesting. That was some of the happiest times of my life, except everybody kept dying.”

Bailey has previously opened up about his struggles growing up gay, saying he felt scared and alone. The Bridgerton star said he will be taking some time in the coming months to focus on his charity, The Shameless Fund.

 

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