Even the furry, red Muppet has his limits.

Sesame Street’s Elmo has been trending on social media after a clip from 2004 resurfaced, revealing an unexpected, wild side of him. The viral video portrays Elmo, his friend Zoe, and her pet rock Rocco having cookies at snack time. After Zoe tells Elmo that he couldn’t have the oatmeal raisin cookie (aka his favorite flavor) because “Rocco wants to eat it,” the red Muppet loses his mind and goes OFF on the two: “HOW? How’s Rocco gonna eat that cookie, Zoe?! Tell Elmo! Rocco doesn’t even have a mouth! Rocco’s just a rock! Rocco’s NOT alive!!” 

Other clips of Elmo’s “unhinged moments” have also popped up such as Rocco’s interruption of the Muppet’s time to say the number of the day and Zoe not giving him a turn in the toy car. Both instances are where Elmo, who is DONE with Zoe and her pet rock, looks directly towards the camera with bulging, puppet eyes, flails his puppet arms, and screams at the top of his puppet lungs while running away off-screen.

Oh, Elmo. Sometimes, days aren’t always so sunny on 123 Sesame Street.

Although first developed in the early 2000s, it seems that Elmo’s beef with Rocco is still ongoing. On January 5th, 2022, he posted a tweet on Twitter regarding his relationship with Zoe after the old clip emerged from the depths of the archives: “Don’t worry everybody! Elmo and Zoe practiced sharing and are still best buds forever! Elmo loves you Zoe! Ha ha ha!” His statement could have ended there; however, he concludes his message with “Elmo doesn’t want to talk about Rocco.” The blunt statement is hilarious and contrasts with the joyous tone of his previous remarks. Later on, he tweets, “Has anyone ever seen a rock eat a cookie? Elmo is just curious.” Comedy. Gold.

It is captivating to watch the (usually) cuddly and fun Elmo lose his absolute sanity over an inanimate object. On the other hand, it appears that Zoe is completely oblivious to her friend’s hatred for Rocco and continues to insist that her pet rock is alive and living. While everyone else goes along with Zoe, Elmo cannot tolerate it and finds it extremely annoying. Whenever Elmo and Rocco clash, the red Muppet becomes a red monster.

However, Elmo’s outbursts don’t just occur whenever Rocco is around. In fact, his wild side can be seen outside of the streets of Sesame as well. In a 2008 interview on Rove Live, the Muppet mishears a crew member saying that he has two minutes left to talk. He then yells, “Elmo came this far [to Australia], and he gets two minutes? Do you know how much it costs to fly here? Do you know how much petrol costs?!” Then, when he appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Elmo, who forgot the lyrics to the song he was performing, almost storms off the stage after Fallon joked that “Elmo should have come to rehearsal.” Embarrassed and angry, the red Muppet demands the host to not touch, look, nor even come near him, then “bans” Fallon from Sesame Street.

Welcome to Elmo’s (rage) World!