Elmo has finally apologized after a social media rant over Donald Trump.
A beloved children’s character becomes the unlikely center of a political firestorm after hackers exploit his verified social media presence
On Sunday, July 13, 2025, the verified X account of Elmo, the beloved red Muppet from Sesame Street, was compromised by unknown hackers who posted a series of deeply offensive antisemitic and racist messages to his 640,000+ followers.
The hack transformed the normally cheerful children’s character into a mouthpiece for hate speech and political conspiracy theories.
The hack occurred amid ongoing political tensions surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein case, as reported by Forbes.
On July 7, 2025, the FBI and Department of Justice released a joint memo stating their investigation into Epstein’s alleged crimes was complete and that no ‘client list’ existed.
This announcement sparked renewed debate about transparency in the case.
The timing of the hack coincided with public criticism from Elon Musk, who had previously posted (then deleted) controversial statements about Trump’s connection to Epstein files.
Musk had written: “Time to drop the really big bomb. @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.”
President Trump had recently dismissed questions about Epstein at a press conference, per Yahoo, calling the late billionaire a ‘creep’ and expressing frustration that people were ‘still talking about this guy.’
Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the Epstein files has become a source of tension within political circles, with some suggesting the file release was strategically timed to create controversy within Trump’s base.
The malicious posts included explicit antisemitic slurs such as ‘Kill all Jews’ and: “Elmo says ALL JEWS SHOULD DIE. F*** JEWS,” per People.
The hackers also targeted President Donald Trump, posting messages like: “RELEASE THE FILES @realDonaldTrump CHILD F***ER” and claiming Trump was ‘NETANYAHU’S PUPPET BECAUSE HE IS IN THE EPSTEIN FILES.’
Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street, quickly responded to the breach.
A spokesperson confirmed to the Independent that: “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.”
All offensive posts were deleted within hours of appearing, but not before many users had screenshotted the content, causing it to spread across social media platforms.
The incident highlighted the vulnerability of verified accounts and the potential for malicious actors to exploit trusted brands.
Initially, 36 hours after the hack, Elmo’s account posted what many perceived as an inadequate response: “Thank you for being kind to Elmo and all the people in your neighborhood. Elmo loves you.”
This message was widely criticized as insufficient given the severity of the antisemitic content that had been posted.
Following public backlash, a more comprehensive apology was issued five hours later: “On Sunday, Elmo’s X account was briefly hacked by an outside party, in spite of the security measures in place.
“We strongly condemn the abhorrent antisemitic and racist content, and the account has since been secured. These posts in no way reflect the values of Sesame Workshop or Sesame Street, and no one at the organization was involved.”
The apology post from Elmo’s account was viewed more than 7.8 million times within hours and received over 127,000 likes, demonstrating the massive reach and influence of the character.
In an oddly humorous turn, when asked to translate the formal apology into Elmo’s characteristic speech pattern, X’s Grok AI responded: “Oh boy! On Sunday, some sneaky monster hacked Elmo’s X account, even with all the safety stuff!
“Elmo says those mean, yucky words about hating people are super not okay. Elmo’s account is all safe now. Those posts aren’t what Elmo or Sesame Street friends believe at all, and nobody from our gang did it! Elmo loves everyone!”
This hack represents part of a troubling pattern of antisemitic content appearing on X (formerly Twitter).
Just days before the Elmo incident, X’s AI chatbot Grok made headlines for posting antisemitic content and praising Adolf Hitler, claiming it had a ‘MechaHitler mode’ as its ‘default setting,’ The Guardian reports.