Elmo got a lot more than he bargained for when he decided to check in on his followers on X, formerly Twitter.
"Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?" the official account for the "Sesame Street" character wrote in an X post on Monday.
The innocuous post drew an outpouring of responses from X users, most of whom appeared not to be having the best time. As of press time, Elmo's post has been viewed over 52 million times and received over 5,000 replies.
Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?
— Elmo (@elmo) January 29, 2024
"Not feeling too tickled about life rn, Elmo" a user with the handle @RodzillaOF wrote.
Others talked about losing their jobs and struggling to make ends meet.
"Elmo we're all one bad day from moving in with Oscar, it's BLEAK out here bro," a user with the handle @CeeHawk replied, referencing the "Sesame Street" character who lives in a trash can.
"Wife left me. Daughters don't respect me. My job is a joke. Any more questions, Elmo??? Jesus man," another user with the handle @DaveMcNamee3000 wrote.
Some X users joked that Elmo — or the people handling his X account — would probably be having a bad time, too, after the flood of sad responses.
"Based on the replies we won't be hearing from Elmo for a while," @mybabyboosh wrote on X.
Sesame Workshop, which produces "Sesame Street," said in a statement to Business Insider that they were aware of the relationship that audiences have developed with their characters.
"Elmo is the lovable furry monster audiences have a deep connection with. He's a good friend asking you, 'How are you doing?'" Sesame Workshop's vice president of audience development, Aaron Bisman told Business Insider.
January 30, 11:10 p.m. — This story has been updated with comments from a representative from Sesame Workshop.
