Sesame Street Fires Back at Company Using Bert and Ernie to Sell Kits Definitely Not for Kids

Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie's alleged sexual activities are once again coming under the spotlight.

The iconic television series is going after Mately, a company that sells at-home STD tests, for using the unauthorized likenesses of Bert and Ernie in its new campaign, according to TMZ. The incendiary ad shows Bert and Ernie looking over an STD test as Bert proclaims, "See Ernie, you've got nothing to worry about, everything is positive."

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A spokesperson for the Sesame workshop told the gossip site legal action will be taken against Mately. "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," they said.

Of course, this isn't the first time Bert and Ernie have been caught up in sexual innuendo. For decades, the pair has been the subject of an urban myth that maintains that the roommates are actually gay lovers--a claim the show has vehemently denied. In 2011, Sesame Street even released an official statement that Bert and Ernie don't have any sexual orientation.

"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 says. "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."

Regardless of sexual orientation, aren't puppets indented to educate preschoolers the wrong spokespeople for an STD test? Stop trying to make Bert and Ernie sexual people! You're ruining our childhoods.