An innocuous social media check-in from Elmo earlier this week has spawned an outpouring of grief and cynicism from users on X, formerly Twitter. The dozens of brands that joined in on the online conversation, though, have taken a sunnier approach to Elmo’s kindhearted inquiry.
Almost immediately after the X account for the beloved “Sesame Street” character shared a post reading, “Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?” on Monday morning, hundreds of X users began unloading their anxieties and sorrows onto the three-year-old fuzzy red monster. “I’m at my lowest. Thanks for asking,” one user wrote, while another replied, “Elmo I just got laid off.”
One user’s response succinctly sums up the general vibe across the more than 17,000 comments Elmo’s post has since received: “Not good, Elmo. Not good.”