The Internet can be an offputting place sometimes, and not even an entity as wholesome as Sesame Street‘s Elmo is safe from truly monstrous behavior. The little red Muppet’s X account was hacked recently, and a slew of inappropriately off-brand and highly controversial posts quickly went viral. The page was scrubbed of hacked content, allowing him to get back to basics, and it’s no surprise his follow-up was an absolute hit.
Sesame Street remains of the best kids shows on TV, making it easy for Elmo to have amassed quite a following on X over the years, which inadvertantly means the number of fans who saw the hateful posts was large indeed. Following the controversy, Elmo shared a more expectedly kindhearted message that a little over half of the character’s total follower count (682K+) liked. Take a look:
Thank you for being kind to Elmo and all the people in your neighborhood. Elmo loves you.
As viral and widespread as the upsetting tweets from the hacker were, it seems the less vitriolic side of the Internet was all too eager to make sure his comeback post went just as viral. Of course, it’s pretty common for the imaginative three-year-old to break the internet these days, even on days when he’s feeling a little off.
And it’s fair to say the world thought something was incredibly off when Elmo’s normally jovial account started blasting out tweets filled with anti-semitism, even challenging the President of the United States to release the Epstein list. Kanye West has largely moved away from posting such polarizing views on X, so it would’ve been quite a decision for Elmo to suddenly embrace and broadcast such radical messages to the people of the world.
It’s been quite a year for Elmo and Sesame Street, as the latter had a whirlwind year that included a collab with children’s YouTuber Ms. Rachel, and ended in losing its deal with HBO. Fortunately, those with PBS and a Netflix subscription will be able to continue enjoying the show for the forseeable future. At a time where it feels like every television show’s future is up in the air, it’s good to know one of the longest-running television shows for children can still find a home on the 2025 TV schedule and beyond.
Expect new episodes of Sesame Street to hit Netflix later on in 2025, and for Elmo to keep posting on social media for the forseeable future. I know some nieces and nephews who will be eager to see the new character-driven episodes, and love having some new episodes to watch after wearing out their usual library of favorite shows.
