For most of the world who grew up watching Sesame Street, Elmo is a lovable and, importantly, uncontroversial figfure (and somewhat annoying) laugh. For New Yorkers, Elmo’s latest tweet makes him a traitor.
The New York Knicks have earned a spot in the NBA finals for the first time since 1999, a feat that has turned the city upside down with excitement. But as New York City readied for game 1 on June 3—with the subway entrance by Knicks home court of Madison Square Garden painted orange and blue paint—an unexpected character chimed in with a nod to sportsmanship that Knicks fans didn’t appreciate coming from a fellow New Yorker.
“Elmo hopes both teams have fun!” he posted to his official X account.
Unsurprisingly, New Yorkers did not treat Elmo’s bipartisan approach with kindness.
“Both teams? Elmo why you acting like you ain’t from the Bronx,” a user responded to the X post. The official Knicks Wall account also chimed in saying, “PICK A SIDE COWARD.”
Wendy’s, a brand account known for their irreverent use of social media, also jumped in, telling Elmo “NOT NOW.”
And ahead of game 2 on Friday, even the NYC administration took a stance. “don’t make us take this down, bro,” the official Department of Transportation said in a response to Elmo’s post, accompanied by a photo of the inauguration of Sesame Street plate in uptown Manhattan.
But these were among the nicer comments of the bunch, with many users turning to more explicit language to get the character in line with the city pride.
“No Elmo let’s go fucking knicks you’re from fucking New York,” one user said.
Not Elmo’s first rodeo
While the attention to the post was unexpected, this is not Elmo’s first viral moment on X. Back in 2024, the character asked its audience about their feelings.
“Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?” he said in a post, which fueled a flurry of over 18,000 replies with users sharing their emotions, and often trauma dumping on the character and the internet.
The post quickly became a national therapy session, something the social media manager behind the account couldn’t have imagined.
Now going viral once again, Elmo’s account has walked back on the character’s original comments—sort of.
“KNICKS that last message! Elmo didn’t mean to SPUR you on!” he posted on June 4, a nod to both the NYC team and the San Antonio Spurs.
While Elmo is yet to officially endorse the NYC-based team, some users are asking the rest to take a step back from the beef. One user said, “everyone needs to stop being mean to elmo he knows the knicks are gonna win.”