PUPPETRY

Ted Cruz: How Dare Elmo Push for COVID Vaccines

Cruz attacked a video that Sesame Street released about 3-year-old Elmo getting vaccinated.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (TX) now has a beef with Elmo—yes, that Elmo, the fluffy muppet with the high-pitched voice. On Tuesday, Sesame Street released a video in which 3-year-old Elmo and his dad, Louie, reflect on Elmo’s recent vaccination. Louie explains that he had hesitations, but that, after speaking with Elmo’s pediatrician, he decided that getting Elmo vaccinated was the right decision. Cruz, however, found the video neither cute nor truthful, saying in a Tweet that the toddler-aged puppet was “aggressively advocating for vaccinating children UNDER 5” and harping on Sesame Street for citing “ZERO scientific evidence.” This is not the first time Cruz has sparred with the puppets—in November, he was outraged that Big Bird had the audacity to share that he, too, got vaccinated and called the announcement “government propaganda” on Twitter.