Sesame Street’s favorite 4-year-old Elmo made the fatal mistake of asking X (formerly Twitter) users about their feelings. Yes, as we step fully into the year of our lord 2024, the little red monster wanted to know how his followers were doing.
“Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?”, the adorable muppet posted on X, not knowing he’d opened the door for generations of jaded adults to dump on him mercilessly.
It was a little like asking a co-worker “How’s it going?” expecting “Great, how’re you?” in response but instead getting a laundry list of problems normally reserved for bartenders and psychiatrists. Poor, innocent Elmo was flooded with miserable X users filled with existential dread.
Consider the top reply to Elmo’s question: “Every morning, I cannot wait to go back to sleep. Every Monday, I cannot wait for Friday to come. Every single day and every single week for life.” The response received over twelve thousand likes from like-minded X users.
Of course, this was just the tip of the depressing onslaught of misery. “Not to be a Debbie Downer,” another X user wrote, “but considering it’s a puppet named Elmo and not a real person is the only one even ‘checking in on me’ seems to say it all.”
“Wife left me. Daughters don’t respect me. My job is a joke. Any more questions, Elmo???”, another exasperated X user wrote.
Some Corners of the Internet Speculated How Elmo Must Feel About the Depressing Responses
Other folks on the internet noted just how depressing this must be for the normally jovial Elmo. “Elmo reading the replies and QTs,” on user wrote alongside a clip of Elmo looking defeated. Adding to the sense of dread, the footage is set to the opening riffs to “Whatever” by Our Lady Peace.
Eventually, level-headed adults had to enter the scene. Yes, the piling on of poor Elmo by the internet was so intense that Sesame Street itself had to step in.
Some X users were bewildered that Elmo was so mercilessly dragged for asking an innocent question. “we started this year. STARTED IT. by trauma dumping so hard on elmo the official sesame street account had to tweet out mental health resources,” an X user pointed out. “i did not have us all trauma dumping on elmo on my bingo card,” another agreed.
However, not every adult forgot the lessons learned about kindness and sharing from watching Sesame Street as children. Some X users finally decided to give Elmo some mercy after the endless cynicism. “how are YOU, Elmo? Enough about us,” a thoughtful X user asked.