Bloggerlife.blog

07/15/2025

Today’s blog

Lynn Murphy Mark

Elmo?? Really??

While driving home yesterday I heard a snippet on NPR and vowed to write a blog about it. Much to my amazement, the news was that Elmo’s X account was hacked. The hackers used the little red guy’s platform to post anti-semitic rants and racist comments. In addition, there was a profane post about the late sex abuser, Jeffrey Epstein.

Sometime over the weekend, hackers gained access to Elmo’s account. To understand the horror of such a takeover, it’s important to know that Elmo represents everything good about childlike innocence. He has remained age three and a half since around 1980, when he first appeared as a background character on Sesame Street. By 1985 he had become a main character and was developing a following.

Elmo was once a regular on Rosie O’Donnell’s show. It occurs to me that this might be why Elmo was targeted by – my theory – MAGA hackers. Rosie has been a long-time verbal opponent of 47, enough so that 47 has threatened to remove her citizenship from her. Rosie did not miss a beat, inviting 47 to try and do just that. Her final comment? “I have the Epstein files.”  Apparently the MAGAverse is split over 47’s and Pam Bondi’s statements that there are no files of Epstein followers. This after Bondi announced early on that the Epstein files were on her desk.  

OOPS. Perhaps 47’s name and films appear prominently in these files? MAGA has been rabid about the release of the files, believing instead that they would incriminate Democrats. The belief is that the files will expose Democrats who are pedophiles, baby-killers, and sex traffickers. This conspiracy theory has taken such deep root in the MAGAverse that the rationale is that despicable Democrats need to be identified and brought to justice as baby murderers and abusers. Their fury and disappointment at the statements that there are no files is enough to hack a beloved child-like character’s account and post lurid statements against Jews, People of Color, and Democrats.

The business of being hacked has made its appearance in my own home. Earlier this year, Jan’s accounts were hacked, and her bank determined that the hackers live on the “dark web”. Now, according to my cybersecurity specialist son-in-law, practically everyone’s data is available on the dark web due to the many breaches of security that are always occurring. Jan has spent hours on the phone and a whole lot of dollars trying to settle the thousands of dollars of purchases made while using her identity – complete with social security number, and bank account and credit card information. Once, in a matter of minutes, there were three unauthorized charges on a credit card made while she was asleep one morning.

This has been a painful, expensive process, and is not yet completely settled. As a result, her credit rating took a plunge and there were threats to turn her over to collections. This problem is not for the faint of heart. My son-in-law advises as follows: “Get a good identity insurance plan and practice good password hygiene. Use a password manager. Don’t re-use your passwords. Use multi-factor authentication where possible. Avoid easy to guess passwords. Avoid sharing debit card information with anybody. Always use a credit card where you have limited liability.” Apparently if a credit card is hacked, the owner is only liable for up to $1,000. 

Back to little Elmo. Fortunately, Sesame Workshop regained control of Elmo’s X platform on Monday, and saved his 650,000 followers from the filth posted over the weekend. The hacker demanded the release of the Epstein files and attacked 47 over his refusal to do so. I can only wonder what very twisted thinking resulted in using Elmo’s account so inappropriately. 

This is not a conspiracy theory – there are a lot of crazy, perverted people looking for any way to promote a MAGA way of life. Using Elmo – ELMO! – is just one manifestation of MAGA madness.