Latest news with #antisemitism
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
'Disgusting' antisemitic and racist messages posted on Elmo's X page by hacker
An X account for the Sesame Street character Elmo has been targeted by an unknown hacker who posted antisemitic and racist messages. The profile is followed by more than 650,000 users on the social network - and usually posts upbeat and motivational updates. Sunday's messages, which have since been deleted, called for violence against Jews, insulted Donald Trump, and referred to alleged files related to Jeffrey Epstein. In a statement, Sesame Workshop said the X account has now been secured - and described the posts uploaded to Elmo's page as "disgusting". This is the latest controversy to befall Elon Musk's platform in recent days. Last week, X's AI chatbot Grok also produced content with antisemitic tropes, which were later removed and denounced as "inappropriate". Musk purchased the website, formerly known as Twitter, back in 2022 - with extremist content increasing against a backdrop of less moderation. The Anti-Defamation League, a US organisation that fights antisemitism, said: "It's appalling that Elmo's official account, known for spreading kindness, was hacked solely to spread violent antisemitism." "Antisemitism on social media fosters the normalisation of anti-Jewish hate online and offline - and contributes to an increasingly threatening environment for Jewish people everywhere." Elmo's account has not posted since the hack.
Al Jazeera
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Al Jazeera
Sesame Street puppet Elmo's X account posts anti-Jewish rant after hacking
The makers of Sesame Street have deleted a slew of offensive social media posts after hackers hijacked the puppet Elmo's X account to launch a tirade about Jews and Jeffrey Epstein. The posts on Elmo's account on Sunday called for the extermination of Jewish people, referred to United States President Donald Trump as a 'puppet' of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and demanded the release of law enforcement files about Epstein, the accused sex trafficker who died in 2019. The posts attracted a flurry of attention online before being deleted a short time after they were uploaded on Sunday. 'Elmo's X account was compromised by an unknown hacker who posted disgusting messages, including antisemitic and racist posts,' a spokesperson for the Sesame Workshop told Al Jazeera in a statement on Monday. 'We are working to restore full control of the account.' Elmo, a furry red monster known for his high-pitched voice and habit of referring to himself in the third person, debuted on PBS's Sesame Street in 1980, quickly becoming one of the show's most beloved characters. Elmo's X account, which has more than 650,000 followers, is usually associated with uplifting messages and clips of the puppet playing games with other Sesame Street characters and his human friends. Last year, a post asking Elmo's audience how they were doing went mega-viral, attracting nearly 225 million views on X. The hacking is the latest incident to draw attention to anti-Jewish content on tech billionaire Elon Musk's X. Earlier this month, Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI was forced to make upgrades to its chatbot Grok after users reported that it provided anti-Jewish responses to questions, including statements praising Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
Sky News
2 hours ago
- Sky News
'Unknown hacker' targets Elmo's X account, and posts antisemitic and racist messages
An X account for the Sesame Street character Elmo has been targeted by an unknown hacker who posted antisemitic and racist messages. The profile is followed by more than 650,000 users on the social network - and usually posts upbeat and motivational updates. Sunday's messages, which have since been deleted, called for violence against Jews, insulted Donald Trump, and referred to alleged files related to Jeffrey Epstein. In a statement, Sesame Workshop said the X account has now been secured - and described the posts uploaded to Elmo's page as "disgusting". This is the latest controversy to befall Elon Musk's platform in recent days. Last week, X's AI chatbot Grok also produced content with antisemitic tropes, which were later removed and denounced as "inappropriate". Musk purchased the website, formerly known as Twitter, back in 2022 - with extremist content increasing against a backdrop of less moderation. The Anti-Defamation League, a US organisation that fights antisemitism, said: "It's appalling that Elmo's official account, known for spreading kindness, was hacked solely to spread violent antisemitism." "Antisemitism on social media fosters the normalisation of anti-Jewish hate online and offline - and contributes to an increasingly threatening environment for Jewish people everywhere."
Times
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Times
Neo-Nazis and black extremists ‘forming antisemitic alliances'
Neo-Nazis are forging alliances with black extremist groups over a shared hatred of Jews, posing a growing threat to UK national security, research has warned. Antisemitism is emerging as an ideological 'glue' binding white and black nationalists, according to a report that calls for a change in the way extremism is combated because ideologies no longer fit traditional far-right or Islamist profiles. Dr Ariel Koch, a fellow at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), described the phenomenon as 'bridge hate' — a tactical alliance between racial supremacists who would otherwise be ideological enemies. He said: 'These alliances blur traditional ideological lines and create a broader, decentralised threat ecosystem. Antisemitism provides the glue that binds actors across racial, religious and political boundaries.' The way in which white supremacists embraced the antisemitic outbursts of the American musician Kanye West in 2022 by launching a 'Kanye is right about the Jews' campaign illustrates how the far-right has co-opted support for the rapper's racist remarks in order to reach new audiences. A white nationalist Telegram channel with more than 9,000 followers launched a sticker campaign across campuses and cities echoing the UK-born 'It's OK to be White' movement. In the US, the Anti-Defamation League has documented more than 30 antisemitic incidents directly referencing West, including slogans projected onto buildings and flyers showing him next to a crossed-out Star of David. Koch said the campaign's memes and slogans were rapidly imported into British online spaces. In January 2024, West wore a t-shirt featuring Burzum, the band of Varg Vikernes, a convicted murderer and neo-Nazi. Rather than distance himself, Vikernes praised West publicly, calling it 'perfectly normal' to be inspired by his ideology. Koch's research, titled Unite Against the Parasites, argued that these collaborations accelerated radicalisation by allowing antisemitic content to resonate across otherwise disconnected groups, lowering the barriers to extremist engagement and boosting its memetic spread. He said that hybrid hate was harder to track because extremists who fused ideologies no longer fitted traditional far-right or Islamist profiles, posing a challenge to the British authorities. Koch said: 'UK threat models must evolve. 'The convergence of far-right, far-left and ethno-religious extremist narratives — often anchored in antisemitism and anti-Zionism — demands a cross-ideological approach to threat assessment.' One example was the so-called Jewish Problem Conference, hosted in Kentucky in June 2024, where black nationalists, neo-Nazis, Islamist preachers, Holocaust deniers and far-left antisemites shared a stage. 'It was the first real-world anti-Jewish coalition extending beyond digital rhetoric,' Koch said. At the heart of these alliances is a shared racial worldview: both white and black supremacist groups prioritise ethnic identity, reject liberal democracy and blame Jews for controlling government, media and social change. These groups fuse old ideologies, creating what UK counter-terrorism officials refer to as 'salad bar extremism' or 'mixed, unclear, unstable' threats, forming an unpredictable and volatile ideology. 'Today, antisemitism is the primary connecting bridge,' Koch said. 'The most dangerous development is the emergence of real-world coalitions and online ecosystems that normalise Jew-hatred — and, through it, undermine the foundations of liberal democracy.'
The Guardian
7 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Australia news live: Burke defends Segal over husband's donations to rightwing group; PM will walk tightrope in Xi meeting
Update: Date: 2025-07-14T20:35:04.000Z Title: Welcome Content: Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I'm Martin Farrer with some of the stories that will make the news today and then it'll be Nick Visser to take you through the day. Tony Burke, the minister for home affairs, went on ABC's 7.30 last night to defend the antisemitism envoy, Jillian Segal, after it was revealed her husband had funded the rightwing lobby group Advance Australia. Segal said she had no involvement in it. More details on his comments soon. Anthony Albanese will meet China's president, Xi Jinping, the premier, Li Qiang, and Communist party chair Zhao Leji today – the three highest-ranking members of China's ruling committee – in what will be the centrepiece of the prime minister's six-day tour of the country. We'll have more on this shortly as well. And Hannah Thomas, the former Greens candidate who sustained a serious eye injury during her arrest at a protest in Sydney, will face court in Bankstown today. She is charged with hindering or resisting police and not following a move-on direction in an anti-Israel protest that police say was unauthorised. More coming up.
