Home HIV Test Maker Crosses the Line With Ernie and Bert Commercial

Uh oh. It looks like someone’s in trouble for suggesting beloved Sesame Street stars Bert and Ernie were wise to check for sexually transmitted disease.

Mately, a company that creates at-home HIV/STD testing kits, used the kid-friendly Muppet duo in a new campaign aimed at spreading sexual health and sexual disease awareness. The company says they are trying to target the 20 million new sexually transmitted infections identified annually by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In one of the promotions, Bert and Ernie are shown looking at test results, with the caption, “See Ernie, you’ve got nothing to worry about, everything is positive!”

Only one problem with Mately’s campaign—word on the “Street” is they never got an OK from the PBS (and now HBO) franchise to use the famed Muppet duo, and that’s a big no-no.    

When asked about the kerfuffle, a spokesperson for Sesame Workshop issued the following comment to TMZ, “The Mately ad is an unauthorized, unlicensed use of our characters. We will be contacting Mately and the appropriate parties with a cease and desist letter instructing them to take this down.”

Mately got the message and yanked all Bert and Ernie images from its site, saying they had no intention to “tarnish the Sesame Street brand.” 

What is it with these famous puppet friends, always being hounded by wink-wink suggestions about their sexuality and now STDs? After all, it was only a few years ago Sesame Street had to release a statement due to rumors that the lovable roomies weren’t gay, due to an online petition calling for same-sex Muppet matrimony:

“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.”

You can’t make this stuff up. Leave it to the Left to sexualize teaching tools for pre-schoolers. {eoa}

This article originally appeared on newsbusters.org.