Elmo X Account Hacked: Antisemitic, Anti-Trump Posts Spark Outrage
Elmo X account followers were left stunned over the weekend after the beloved Sesame Street character’s profile was hijacked and used to spread vile, hate-filled messages.
The popular children’s puppet, known for teaching kindness and patience to little ones, became the centre of a disturbing cyberattack on Sunday. The account — with a following of approximately 650,000 — published a string of antisemitic and anti-Donald Trump posts.
The content was deeply offensive, with explicit calls for violence against Jewish people and accusations branding the US President a “puppet” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Elmo’s X account was briefly compromised yesterday by an unknown hacker who posted disgusting messages, including antisemitic and racist posts,” a spokesperson for Sesame Workshop told AFP.
“The account has since been secured,” they confirmed.
The offending posts were swiftly taken down, but not before screenshots began circulating across social media. Despite the cleanup, a suspicious Telegram link — seemingly tied to the hackers — lingered in the bio section of the account for several hours.
The incident marks yet another blemish on Elon Musk’s X platform. Since the billionaire acquired what was once Twitter in 2022, critics have slammed the platform’s gutted content moderation policies, blaming them for a rise in hate speech and misinformation.
Only a day before Elmo’s account was breached, Musk’s AI startup, xAI, issued an apology after its chatbot Grok published disturbing pro-Hitler content. The string of antisemitic events has put X under renewed scrutiny.
In the US, tensions surrounding antisemitism are already high. In May, two Israeli embassy staffers were killed near a Jewish museum in Washington. A firebombing at a pro-Israel rally in Colorado left over a dozen wounded in June — one of them, an 82-year-old woman, later died.
Anti-Israel protests on university campuses across the US have further ignited debate, with many demonstrations facing backlash and accusations of antisemitism.
The breach of Elmo’s account — a character symbolising innocence and compassion — has especially jarred parents and educators.
This isn’t just another celebrity hack. It’s a wake-up call about the kind of content slipping through the cracks on social media platforms meant to serve all ages — including the very young.
As of Monday, Sesame Workshop confirmed the profile is back under control. But for many, the damage is done. And the question remains — if Elmo isn’t safe online, who is?
