The social media platform X is filled with antisemitism, according to watchdogs and even a casual exploration. But it was still shocking for users late Sunday when the account associated with the “Sesame Street” character Elmo began spewing hate.
“Kill all Jews,” the Elmo account tweeted as part of a spree focused on “the Epstein files,” the documents purportedly kept by the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that have reemerged as a major political issue six months into the second Trump administration.
Trump had promised to release the Department of Justice’s files on Epstein as part of his campaign but reversed course after the department said last week that Epstein did not maintain a client list. On Saturday, Trump posted an impassioned call on Truth Social, his own platform, for people to stop paying attention to the Epstein issue. The post has fueled speculation among some in his base that Trump is named in the files, which the pro-release crowd believes contain details about clients of Epstein’s alleged international sex trafficking ring.
Elmo’s spree began with a tweet calling on Trump to release the files. It also contained another a tweet laden with antisemitic conspiracy theories, in the syntax that the beloved red Muppet is famous for: “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.”
Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit that operates “Sesame Street,” said in a statement that Elmo’s account had been hacked.
“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,” it said.
The posts were subsequently removed.
Conspiracy theories connecting Epstein, who was Jewish, and the Israeli government, have percolated widely in the years since his arrest by federal authorities in July 2019. (He was found dead in his jail cell the following month in what was ruled a suicide.) Tucker Carlson, the erstwhile Trump supporter, alleged during a speech this weekend at a conservative youth conference that Epstein had been working for Israel’s Mossad intelligence service.
Elmo’s spree has spurred another conspiracy theory: that X’s owner, Elon Musk, had something to do with it. Some of Musk’s critics have referred to him as Elmo on the platform. Musk is a longtime advocate of the release-the-files stance, reiterating that position on Saturday after Trump’s Truth Social Post. “Just release the files as promised,” he tweeted, referring to the Epstein files as Trump’s “Achilles’ heel.”
Antisemitic speech surged on X after Musk’s acquisition in 2022, as he relaxed moderation standards and invited high-profile antisemites who had been banned to return to the platform.
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