Central Park – Jewcy

Anti-Semitic Elmo is Back—He Got Arrested in Times Square Today

Stephanie Butnick — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 20:55:32 +0000

After several troubling incidents this summer, it looks like anti-Semitic Elmo is back. The New York Times City Room blog reports:

The man, Adam Sandler, 48, who in June was removed from Central Park in an ambulance after going on a rant, was arrested in front of the Toys “R” Us store in Times Square shortly after 3 p.m., the police said. He was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Mr. Sandler was shouting and drawing a crowd that was blocking traffic, and he refused to leave, the police said.

A sad continuation of a creepy story.

Previously: Why Anti-Semitic Elmo is Creepier—and Less Funny—Than We Had Thought
The Growing Anti-Semitic Elmo Crisis

(image via Reuters)

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Why Anti-Semitic Elmo is Creepier—and Less Funny—Than We Had Thought

Jacob Silverman — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 15:09:11 +0000

What began as the kind of “weird and funny, but a tad disturbing” story endemic to New York has skewed irrevocably toward the latter. Anti-Semitic Elmo is, as one might have guessed, a troubled (and possibly mentally ill) man. The New York Times managed to talk to the person under the mask—his legal name is Adam Sandler—and discovered that his background includes a stint running a pornography site in Cambodia called “Welcome to the Rape Camp.”

Sandler, who is 48, was eventually thrown out of Cambodia (for reasons unclear, though apparently in connection with the site), and later ended up temping for Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. He started the Elmo act—and bought his costume online for $300—after noticing how well some Elmo impersonators were doing in Times Square.

You really should read the whole profile. While we had some fun with the story the first time around, this closer look casts into relief the initial episode, which seems to be but the latest incident of trouble for a man who has demons, mental and otherwise, that he seems unlikely to escape.

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The Growing Anti-Semitic Elmo Crisis

Jewcy Staff — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 17:14:36 +0000

It’s time to talk about Elmo—that is, about our Elmo problem, and yours. For several months, someone, or several someones, has been showing up in Central Park, in full Elmo costume, and unleashing curse-laden invectives about subjects of concern—his alleged work for mobster John Gotti, the evils of media giant Viacom, and, of course, the Jews. In the latter case, the red-furred menace was exhorting passersby to read The International Jew, the anti-Semitic tract by Henry Ford. He also claimed that he could not “get a real job” because the Jewish costume industry was harassing him.

In the latest instance of anti-social Elmo behavior, a man in Elmo garb arrived at Central Park and began to rant about the people of the book, only to be later taken off, stretcher-bound, in an ambulance. We wait for the ADL to weigh in on this issue, and for the announcement of Mayor Bloomberg’s Elmo Containment Committee. The city cannot wait.

[Gothamist]

(Image via Twitter)

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