Anyone can fall victim to hacks these days.
Last Saturday (13 July), the X account for Elmo — the well-loved Sesame Street character — shared several “racist and antisemitic” posts after falling for one such attempt.
Among the messages posted were threats towards Jewish people and a call for US President Donald Trump to “release the files” surrounding convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Source: @TheEbonyMaw on X
Epstein is an American financier who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking “young women and underage girls”, allegedly on his private island in the Caribbean, The Independent reported.
During his campaign, President Trump promised to release the Epstein files — which include a list of prominent figures linked to Epstein’s sex trafficking activities — during his recent presidential campaign.
On Wednesday (16 July), Sesame Workshop — the non-profit organisation behind Sesame Street — and Elmo posted a statement regarding the hacking incident.
It stated that Elmo’s X account was “hacked by an outside party” despite security measures set in place to prevent this.
Source: @SesameWorkshop on X
“We strongly condemn the abhorrent antisemitic and racist content, and the account has since been secured,” they clarified. “These posts in no way reflect the values of Sesame Workshop or Sesame Street, and no one at the organisation was involved.”
Earlier, a spokesperson for Sesame Workshop told media outlets that Elmo’s X account “was compromised by an unknown hacker who posted disgusting messages, including antisemitic and racist posts”.
The representative also said the team was “working to restore full control of the account”.
Besides discriminatory posts, the hackers also added a Telegram link on Elmo’s X profile, which largely went unnoticed amid the fiasco.
According to TechWatch PH, the link redirected followers to a suspicious Telegram group called “ruglol.”
Source: TechWatch PH
Los Angeles Times also reported that the owner of the Telegram page seemingly took credit for the hacking, posting “Thanks Elmo” in one message.
Additionally, the user wrote praises towards German dictator Adolf Hitler — a central figure in the mass persecution of European Jews from 1933 to 1945 — and rapper Kanye West, who has been embroiled in controversies involving his antisemitic comments.
Also read: Foodpanda Instagram Account Gets Hacked, All Photos Deleted Except One
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Featured image adapted from @elmo on X, @TheEbonyMaw on X.