Yes, folks, this is what it's come to. The internet arguing over whether two puppets from 'Sesame Street' are gay or not.

The whole thing stemmed from recent comments made by a former writer on the kids' TV show, Mark Saltzman, who told Queerty: "I always felt that without a huge agenda, when I was writing Bert & Ernie, they were [gay]. I didn’t have any other way to contextualize them. The other thing was, more than one person referred to Arnie [his own partner] & I as ‘Bert & Ernie. So I don’t think I’d know how else to write them, but as a loving couple.”

However, Sesame Workshop - the educational organisation linked to the show - has released a statement claiming that the pair 'do not have a sexual orientation' and were 'created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves':

 

 

Now, a multitude of names - from Piers Morgan to Billy Eichner to creator Frank Oz - have now weighed in on the matter: