Hackers post antisemitic content on Elmo’s X account
Sesame Workshop, the creators behind Sesame Street and the beloved children’s puppet Elmo, have claimed that unknown hackers were responsible for accessing the character’s X account and posting antisemitic content.
Elmo’s account on the social media platform, which has around 650,000 followers, was briefly compromised on July 13th when a series of antisemitic and racist messages were posted, including one which called for the “extermination” of Jewish people.
Other posts also criticised US President Donald Trump and made allegations about his connections with former financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In response, a spokesperson for Sesame Workshop said: “Elmo’s X account was briefly compromised yesterday by an unknown hacker who posted disgusting messages, including antisemitic and racist posts. The account has since been secured.”
According to Deadline, representatives from X have not yet returned requests for comment over the incident.
Regarding Trump and Epstein, one of the posts that briefly appeared on Elmo’s account said, “Release the files.” The US Department of Justice and the FBI announced last week that Epstein did not have a client list.
Since Elmo’s social media profile has been recovered, no further posts have been made on the account since the incident.
The character’s posts have regularly gone viral before, with one such occurrence last year when it asked its audience how they were doing, to which social media users responded in their thousands with depressing thoughts on the state of the world.
Trump recently attracted controversy after slashing federal funding for PBS, the American television network which showed Elmo and Sesame Street. However, the children’s educational series has now been picked up by Netflix.
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