(SADLY) IN THE TUBES: ELMO SHOUTS ANTI-SEMITIC COMMENTS IN CENTRAL PARK

It seems sometimes that some of the most disgusting things are the ones that go viral the fastest.

For more on this phenomenon, see “Two Girls, One Cup,” except don’t actually watch it.

In a video that is making rounds on the Internet, and catching the attention of major media outlets like The New York Times, a mentally disturbed man in an Elmo suit was spotted shouting anti-Semitic comments outside of the Central Park Zoo.

If you ever wanted to see your childhood destroyed before your very eyes, then this might be the video for you, although I have no idea why you would even want to.

“I’m not making money because the Jewish costume companies are harassing me… if you start a business in this city, Jews will harass you.”

According to a New York Times article, the man, whose legal name is apparently Adam Sandler (another part of my childhood destroyed), was escorted out of the park by police and was sent to Metropolitan Hospital Center after the tirade went viral. Sandler had just been released from the psychiatric ward earlier that day.

Other videos have surfaced on Youtube, including one that was filmed in Times Square.

“Don’t use LeapFrog. It is an international Jewish toy.”

Sandler had been working in Central Park as “that guy in the Elmo suit” since April, after a stint in the porn industry, along with other various jobs. He used to run a website in the late 1990s called “Welcome to the Rape Camp” in Cambodia, which is probably just as horrible as it sounds. He was deported back to the United States in the same year. The website became the subject of an academic paper about sexual exploitation in Cambodia.

Looking back at my trips to amusement parks and NYC, I begin to wonder exactly who was hiding out in those costumes. Sure this was more than 10 years ago (ugh I feel old) that I recall last taking pictures with costumed mascots, but I don’t think I ever though of them as having human identities, nor being a part of an industry with possibly very few actual restrictions and legislation regarding who gets to dawn the furry suits. A quick search on the Internet revealed nothing in terms of a central organization. I was able to find a few companies that did birthday parties and such, but something that governs the streets of NYC? Who knows what is out there.

Even Sandler stated that all he did was pick up a costume and started collecting money.

This is not to say that all parents should be wary of costumed characters, especially since kids seem to enjoy them, and especially because most of them are not pornographers.

So what will become of Sandler? As of now, he is still going around Central Park, posing for photographs. Whether his tirades could be considered illegal is not exactly known,

although it can be certain that he’s going to be drawing attention from all of the wrong places.