Latest news with #Sesamestreet
Time of India
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Elmo's X account hacked; offensive posts on Sesame Street's icon page shock fans
The official X account of popular Sesame street character Elmo was hacked on Sunday resulting in a series of offensive and antisemitic messages The official X account of the popular Sesame Street character Elmo was hacked on July 14. As reported by Reuters, the hack led to dissemination of antisemitic and racist messages from the account. The breach quickly drew widespread condemnation and prompted swift action to secure the compromised account. The offensive posts from the verified account of the popular red puppet included hateful targeting of jews and other minorities. The screenshots of the disturbing posts quickly circulated online before being deleted. Sesame Street's popular character Elmo's X account gets hacked As reported by Reuters, after the hack the posts which appeared on Elmo's X account included slurs against Jews, insults directed at US President Donald Trump, and references to conspiracy theories involving Jeffrey Epstein. The account has more than 6,50,000 followers and it usually shared uplifting and educational content. Sesame Workshop the non-profit organisation behind Sesame Street, confirmed the breach and called the messages 'disgusting'. "Elmo's X account was briefly compromised by an unknown hacker who posted disgusting messages, including antisemitic and racist posts," Sesame Workshop said in a statement. The company also added the account has now been secured. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Live Update: The Strategy Uses By Successful Intraday Trader TradeWise Learn More Undo The incident comes amid growing scrutiny of X's content moderation policies under Elon Musk's ownership. Just days earlier, Musk's AI chatbot Grok faced backlash for generating antisemitic responses. Elon Musk's xAI apologises for what 'happened on July 8 Meanwhile, it has been a tough time for xAI. The Elon Musk-owned company apologised 'for the horrific behaviour that many experienced' for 16 hours, starting on July 8. Through the official Grok account on X (formerly Twitter), the AI company said that 'the update was to provide helpful and truthful responses to users' but it spit out responses which 'contained extremist views.' xAI has also provided an explanation on what went wrong. It said that the incident stemmed from a July code update that activated deprecated instructions, causing Grok to reflect extremist views from X posts for 16 hours, a vulnerability not anticipated despite pre-release testing, as revealed by xAI's investigation. AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Time of India
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
'Words I never expected...': Elmo's X account goes rogue with offensive messages, sends netizens into frenzy
Elmo from Sesame Street sent social media into a frenzy after the character's X account was hacked on Sunday, according to Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street. The antagonist used the lovable red monster as a mouthpiece to promote antisemitic views, boost an obscure crypto toy company and belabor on controversy surrounding the elusive Jeffrey Epstein files . The Muppet character, who currently enjoys more than 646,000 followers on the social media platform, posted a slew of inflammatory remarks, including antisemitic and racist views and a foulmouthed message aimed at President Donald Trump. ALSO READ: White House under fire for bizarre 'Superman Trump' image, Internet says 'delete this, it's cringe' by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Custom Rings That Truly Stand Out vividtrendlab Undo Elmo from Sesame street's account hacked The official X account of popular Sesame street character Elmo was hacked on Sunday resulting in a series of offensive and antisemitic messages that shocked many social media users. The account also replied to many users with similar offensive language but all of the posts and replies were deleted later. The hacker started off small by posting a picture of Elmo on the moon celebrating the crypto toy exchange OnChain Studios before quickly deviating from the lovable children's character's usual lingo and calling for violence against Jewish people. 'Kill all Jews,' the account posted. Live Events 'Elmo says ALL JEWS SHOULD DIE. F–K JEWS. DONALD TRUMP IS NETANYAHU'S PUPPET BECAUSE HE IS IN THE EPSTEIN FILES. JEWS CONTROL THE WORLD AND NEED TO BE EXTERMINATED,' the account added just 10 minutes later. 'RELEASE THE FILES @realDonaldTrump CHILD F–KER.' ALSO READ: Kristi Noem to be investigated over her FEMA's response to devastating Texas floods? Why Trump aide is facing backlash A spokeswoman for Sesame Workshop said on Sunday: "Elmo's X account was compromised today by an unknown hacker who posted disgusting messages, including antisemitic and racist posts. We are working to restore full control of the account." What is Elmo? According to Elmo is a furry red Muppet monster who lives on Sesame Street. He is self-described as three-and-a-half years old, and almost always refers to himself in the third person. The character's popularity led to his own segments on Sesame Street beginning with "Elmo's World." Elmo lives in an apartment on Sesame Street with his mother, Mae, his father, Louie, and, in some storybooks, a sister named Daisy. His pets have included a number of goldfish, with Dorothy being the most prominent, and a dog named Tango, who was introduced in 2021. After the Elmo's account was hacked, it drew massive reaction from the netizens. Some users mocked the situation because of the shocking adult language coming from a children's character account. One user commented, 'I'm forever scarred by Elmo.' Republican senator Mike Lee wrote on X of Elmo's hacking: "I'm forever scarred ... by @elmo. Words I never expected to utter." ALSO READ: Trump's State department firing begins: Over 1,300 jobs slashed in latest layoff wave Democratic representative Jared Moskowitz shared on X: "See what happens when you defund PBS @elmo." Representative Jared Moskowitz tweeted, "See what happens when you defund PBS". Sesame Street has faced increased scrutiny in recent months as some Republican lawmakers have pushed to cut federal funding for PBS. In May, Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at ending federal support for the public broadcaster. Last month, Republican lawmakers called to defund PBS after the television station's long-running children's show, "Sesame Street," celebrated LGBTQ "Pride" Month on social media. According to the American Jewish Committee's (AJC) State of Antisemitism in America 2024 Report, antisemitism has become so widespread in the United States that 73 percent of American Jews feel less secure than a year ago, and 90 percent say that antisemitism has increased in the US following the October 2023 Hamas terror attack against Israel. In February, rapper Kanye West sparked backlash after posting a series of antisemitic remarks on X, praising Adolf Hitler and declaring himself "a Nazi." Days later, he came under fire again when his Yeezy Super Bowl commercial directed people to his brand's website, where consumers could purchase a T-shirt with an image of a swastika. Most recently, the 48-year-old—who legally changed his name to Ye in 2021—has been banned from entering Australia over his "Heil Hitler" song.
