In a strange and disturbing coda to what would have been on social media, Elmo, yes, that Elmo, the cackling red Muppet we all know and love, was the unlikely center of attention this weekend when his official X (formerly Twitter) account was hacked. But what followed was more than silly tickles or staccatoed recitations of the alphabet; it was a vile flood of antisemitic and inflammatory posturing that left fans stunned and fuming.
Elmo’s account, which has been followed by more than 647,000 people, transformed into a hate speech ground zero after it was compromised. The reflector breached was used to reflect a signal off a larger object and thereby avoid detection, and the hacker used the opening to have some fun at the expense of Sesame Street, which was completely poorly aligned with the lovable puppet the show made famous.
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Another disturbing post, reacting to the commissioning of ex-FBI Director Robert Mueller as a special counsel, labeled former President Donald Trump a “muppet” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before taking a swipe at the controversial conspiracy theories surrounding the late Jeffrey Epstein, to boot. Another asked for documents related to Epstein to be unsealed, apparently trying to turn Elmo’s profile into a Bizarro World bullhorn for extremist rhetoric.
By now, you already know that the posts inspired a social media meltdown, but it was not long before the effect was felt. That such messages were delivered from an account associated with a beloved children’s character only added to the shock. Within hours, all of the offensive material was deleted, and by July 14, 2025, the account had disappeared into darkness, locked with no fresh activity.
Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization that produces Elmo and the rest of the Sesame Street gang, released a statement confirming the hack. “The content was abhorrent,” they wrote, explaining that they are working with X to take back control and tighten security going forward.
But as the outrage bubbled, so did the internet’s morbid sense of humor. A number of users couldn’t help but notice the hack in relation to none other than Kanye West, who has also been in the spotlight over the past several years for his own string of antisemitic comments.
“Why did Kanye hijack Elmo’s Twitter?” a single post joked, while another added, “Not Elmo! I think he’s on whatever Kanye is on.” There was something irresistible about the absurdity of the situation, a preschool puppet spewing hate speech and conspiracy theories for meme-creators and aficionados of satire.
For now, fans just have to wait and hope that when the fuzzy red friend returns, he’s back in character and well out of controversy. In the meantime, it is a bizarrely sad reminder that in the digital age, Elmo is not untouchable.
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