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The social media site X was abuzz Sunday after an account for the famed Sesame Street Muppet Elmo was hacked, leading to a series of shocking posts targeting Jewish people and trolling Donald Trump.
A rep for Sesame Workshop confirmed the digital security breach to Daily Mail Sunday evening.
‘Elmo’s X account was compromised today by an unknown hacker who posted disgusting messages, including antisemitic and racist posts,’ the rep said. ‘We are working to restore full control of the account.’
The account for Elmo, under the handle @elmo, has more than 639,800 followers, and has been on the platform since November of 2012.
‘Elmo lives on Sesame Street and was told to tell you that Elmo is official!’ a bio line on the social media page read.
On Sunday, it was clear the account had been commandeered by rogue actors, as a series of messages posted called for violence against Jewish people.
The social media site X was abuzz Sunday after an account for the famed Sesame Street Muppet Elmo was hacked, leading to a series of shocking posts targeting Jewish people, as well as Black people and transgender people
A rep for Sesame Workshop confirmed the digital security breach to Daily Mail Sunday evening
The post repeated a series of antisemitic tropes and called for harm against Jewish people.
The post also took aim at the president, saying, ‘DONALD TRUMP IS NETANYAHU’S PUPPET BECAUSE HE IS IN THE EPSTEIN FILE.’
One message tagged in President Donald Trump that read: ‘RELEASE THE FILES @readDonaldTrump’ along with an offensive term directed at Trump.
The hacker also peppered in more sharp responses to people who condemned the racist prank.
When one person expressed their frustration with the posts from the account, a profane response used a racial epithet aimed at Black people.
When another person said they were going to mute Elmo a response from the Elmo account contained a transphobic slur.
The unlikely hack and subsequent shock messages led for Elmo to become a trending topic on the platform, with a number of different takes on the incident.
‘Hacking the official Elmo account gotta be one of the most diabolical things this app has ever seen,’ one response read.
The account for Elmo, under the handle @elmo, has more than 639,800 followers, and has been on the platform since November of 2012
The unlikely hack and subsequent shock messages led for Elmo to become a trending topic on the platform, with a number of different takes on the incident.
One user posted a long-circulating meme of the Sesame Street character standing in front of flames to aptly summarize the situation with the hacker
A few people made reference to rapper Kanye West’s history of antisemitic X posts , which he has since distanced himself from
One take described the breach as ‘one of the most diabolical things this app has ever seen’
A few people made reference to rapper Kanye West’s history of antisemitic X posts, which he has since distanced himself from.
‘Kanye and Elmo should collab sometime,’ one user said, while another asked, ‘Who let Kanye on Elmo’s account?’
One user posted a long-circulating meme of the Sesame Street character standing in front of flames to aptly summarize the situation with the hacker.
One social media user said that the incident provided an insight into how deeply antisemitism is embedded in some people.
‘This is a real tweet from the Elmo X account. It has since been deleted,’ said the user. ‘We’re dealing with depraved immoral sociopaths who target even a beloved children’s character in order to incite violence and hate against Jews.’
