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On July 13, 2025, the hacked Elmo account posted an antisemitic tirade and accused Trump of crimes after an apparent takeover of the official X account. Sesame Workshop said an unknown outside hacker was responsible, condemned the racist and antisemitic material, and said the account was recovered and secured.
The incident generated confusion because the posts appeared on an account associated with a familiar children’s character. The account’s appearance, however, does not authenticate the messages or make them statements from Elmo, Sesame Street, or Sesame Workshop.
Key takeaways
- The official Elmo X account was compromised on July 13, 2025, and control was later regained.
- The attacker published antisemitic, racist, and political material involving Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Jeffrey Epstein.
- Sesame Workshop condemned the posts, said they did not represent Sesame Workshop or Sesame Street, and said the account had been secured.
- The identity of the hacker and the technical method used to access the account were not established in the reporting reviewed.
- A Telegram user claimed responsibility, but that claim was not independently verified.
What happened when the hacked Elmo account posted an antisemitic tirade and accused Trump of crimes?
The official Elmo X account was compromised on July 13, 2025. During the takeover, the account posted antisemitic and racist material, attacked President Donald Trump, and referred to Benjamin Netanyahu and Jeffrey Epstein. Sesame Workshop said an outside hacker was responsible, condemned the posts, and reported that the account was secured after the posts were removed.
The account had approximately 647,000 followers at the time, according to The Associated Press’s July 14 report. The large audience meant that offensive material could circulate widely before deletion, but the presence of the posts on the official account did not make the posts authentic statements from Elmo or Sesame Workshop.
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What did the hacked Elmo account post?
The compromised account published antisemitic and racist abuse alongside political claims and references to Jeffrey Epstein. Reporting described posts that called Trump a “puppet” of Netanyahu and claimed that Trump was “in the Epstein files.” The Washington Post reported that the posts were taken down.
| Category | What the reporting established | What it did not establish |
|---|---|---|
| Antisemitic and racist content | The account published abusive antisemitic and racist material during the compromise. | That Elmo, Sesame Street, or Sesame Workshop endorsed or authored the material. |
| Political attacks | The posts included attacks involving Trump and Netanyahu. | That the political claims were true or officially communicated by Sesame Workshop. |
| Epstein references | The account demanded additional information related to Epstein and referred to alleged files. | That the account’s claims authenticated any allegation about Trump or anyone else. |
| Claimed responsibility | A user claiming to be responsible left a Telegram link associated with the account, according to The Guardian. | The identity of the attacker or the truth of the user’s claim. |
The Washington Post’s account of the incident is important for separating the content categories: the material combined hate speech with political attacks and Epstein-related references. Those categories should not be treated as one verified political statement.
Did Sesame Street post antisemitic messages?
No. The posts appeared on a compromised account, but Sesame Workshop disavowed them. A Sesame Workshop spokesperson said, “Elmo’s X account was compromised by an unknown hacker who posted disgusting messages, including antisemitic and racist posts.”
In a follow-up statement reported by CBS News, Sesame Workshop said: “We strongly condemn the abhorrent antisemitic and racist content, and the account has since been secured.” The organization also said: “These posts in no way reflect the values of Sesame Workshop or Sesame Street, and no one at the organization was involved.”
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The correct description is therefore that an attacker used the official Elmo account to publish the material. Calling the posts statements by Elmo or Sesame Street would incorrectly attribute the attacker’s content to the organization.
When was the Elmo account hacked and recovered?
The public chronology reported by the news organizations was as follows:
| Date | Development |
|---|---|
| July 13, 2025 | The Elmo X account published antisemitic, racist, and political posts after an apparent takeover. |
| July 14, 2025 | Sesame Workshop said an unknown hacker had compromised the account; The Associated Press reported that control had been regained, and the posts were deleted. |
| July 15, 2025 | CBS News reported Sesame Workshop’s follow-up statement that the account had been briefly hacked by an outside party and was secured. |
The timing matters because some descriptions compress the incident into a single event. The account was compromised on July 13, public reporting and recovery statements followed on July 14, and the organization’s more detailed follow-up statement was reported on July 15. The Associated Press chronology reported that the account regained control and that the posts were soon deleted.
Who hacked Elmo’s X account?
The attacker’s identity was not established by the reporting reviewed. Sesame Workshop attributed the incident to an unknown hacker, and the reports did not identify a verified person, group, political campaign, or government behind the compromise.
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The Guardian reported that a Telegram link remained associated with the account while a user claimed credit. A self-published claim is an allegation, not proof of identity or involvement. No public evidence in the reviewed reporting established whether the claim was genuine.
How was the Elmo account compromised?
The technical intrusion method remains unknown. The available reporting did not establish whether credentials were stolen, a session token was abused, two-factor authentication was bypassed, or another access route was used.
The reporting also did not establish that X, Elon Musk, xAI, Grok, a political campaign, or any named individual caused or enabled the takeover. Account-security failures can be discussed as a general risk, but the specific access path in this incident should not be filled in with speculation.
Was the Elmo hack connected to Grok, Elon Musk, or wider controversy on X?
No verified connection was established. The incident occurred amid public scrutiny of antisemitic material on X and discussion of recent antisemitic outputs from Grok, but contemporaneous reporting did not demonstrate that those developments caused the Elmo compromise or identify a common actor.
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The distinction is straightforward:
| Claim | Status | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Elmo’s official X account was compromised | Confirmed | Sesame Workshop and multiple news reports described the takeover. |
| A Telegram user hacked the account | Unverified | The user claimed responsibility, but the claim was not independently established. |
| Grok or Elon Musk caused the hack | Unsupported | The reporting provided context about X and Grok but did not establish causation. |
| The posts expressed Sesame Workshop’s beliefs | False attribution | Sesame Workshop explicitly condemned the content and said no one at the organization was involved. |
CBS News’s report documents Sesame Workshop’s statement and the organization’s explicit rejection of the posts. That response should be weighed separately from unrelated controversies involving the platform or its AI products.
How does this incident fit the wider antisemitism context?
The Elmo incident is one example of how a compromised, high-reach account can be used to distribute hate speech, but it is not a measurement of antisemitism in the United States. According to the Anti-Defamation League’s 2024 audit, published in 2025, the United States recorded 9,354 antisemitic incidents in 2024, the highest total in the audit’s 46-year history.
That national figure provides context rather than a direct comparison. The ADL total covers incidents recorded across the United States during 2024, while the Elmo event was a single account compromise in July 2025. The two facts should not be presented as if the ADL counted the Elmo posts or used the incident in calculating the national total.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What should readers take from the incident?
The most reliable conclusion is limited but clear: an official account with a large audience was taken over, the intruder used it to publish hateful and politically charged material, and Sesame Workshop recovered and secured the account while disavowing the posts.
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Readers should distinguish four separate questions when evaluating similar incidents:
- Was the account actually compromised? In this case, Sesame Workshop confirmed that it was.
- What content appeared during the takeover? Reporting documented antisemitic, racist, political, and Epstein-related material.
- Who was responsible? The reviewed reporting did not establish the attacker’s identity; a Telegram claim remained unverified.
- What did the account owner believe? Sesame Workshop explicitly said the posts did not reflect its values and that no one at the organization was involved.
Those distinctions prevent two common errors: treating a hacked account’s posts as an organization’s endorsement, and treating an unverified claim of responsibility as a proven attribution.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was Elmo’s X account hacked?
Yes. The official Elmo X account was compromised on July 13, 2025, according to Sesame Workshop and multiple news reports. The account was later recovered and secured, and the offensive posts were deleted.
Who hacked Elmo’s account?
The hacker’s identity was not established in the reporting reviewed. A Telegram user claimed responsibility, but that claim was not independently verified and does not prove who carried out the compromise.
Did Sesame Street post the antisemitic messages?
No. Sesame Workshop said the posts did not reflect the values of Sesame Workshop or Sesame Street and that no one at the organization was involved. The material was posted while the account was compromised.
Was the Elmo account hack connected to Grok or Elon Musk?
No verified connection between the Elmo account takeover and Grok, Elon Musk, or wider controversies on X was established. The available reporting provided context about those controversies but did not prove causation.
The Bottom Line
The official Elmo X account was hacked on July 13, 2025, and used to publish antisemitic, racist, and political material. Sesame Workshop condemned the posts and secured the account. The hacker’s identity, intrusion method, and any claimed connection to Grok, Elon Musk, or other named actors remained unproven in the reporting reviewed.
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