Elmo, the beloved fuzzy red resident of Sesame Street, is back on social media after the character’s X account was hacked by an “outside party” that posted antisemitic rantings and amplified conspiracy theories.
On Tuesday, the official Elmo account released a statement apologizing for the “abhorrent antisemitic and racist content” that the otherwise wholesome account shared over the weekend.
Sesame Workshop, the parent organization of Sesame Street and its characters, said the security measures in place to protect the account weren’t strong enough, allowing for bad actors to hijack the account.
Among the messages shared on the official Elmo account were calls for violence against the Jewish community and accusations targeting President Donald Trump and his ties to former financier and alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Prior to that, a message from the Elmo account promoted an obscure crypto exchange, according to the New York Post.
Sesame Workshop stressed that the messages originated from someone outside the organization with zero participation from anyone at the nonprofit.
This the latest high-profile instance of violent antisemitic messaging being amplified in recent weeks on X, formerly Twitter.
Last week, the social media site’s built-in AI platform Grok began praising Adolf Hitler and even dubbed itself “MechaHitler.” Those posts have since been removed.
The post Elmo gets his X account back after hacking appeared first on KTLA.
