I guess the video is a year old, but Brooklyn writer Phil Campbell passed this along over the weekend, so for me it’s brand spanking new. It’s about a toddler named James who has a talking Elmo that glitched into saying Kill James.
Ha ha. But when I watched the thing, I got caught about 8 seconds in when they pan this family’s living room and show a freaking army of Elmo dolls that this toddler owns. It’s a ridiculous number of toys for one kid to own.
Look, I know children can be OCD about their favorite characters. Dalia would live in a world of Star Wars action figures if she could. But isn’t it our jobs to push back a little, and not just buy every single Elmo toy in the world simply because little James wants it?
So yes, James may well grow up twisted, but it will not be because Elmo says Kill. It’ll be because mom can’t say No.