Elmo would like to set the record straight. That’s why our favorite furry red friend from Sesame Street recently dropped by the Daily Pop, and spoke on the record about his feud with Zoe over her pet rock, Rocco.

Confused? Here’s a refresher: Elmo has been making the internet rounds for the last few weeks, since a clip from Sesame Street went viral. In it, his fellow muppet Zoe decides to give a cookie to her pet rock Rocco instead of Elmo—causing Elmo to enter a fit of rage uncharacteristic for a mild-mannered preschool icon. 

While Elmo and Zoe are both muppets, Rocco—despite his adorable name ending in O—is not, and has no mouth or digestive system to speak of. Elmo’s freakout caught the attention of the nation, trending online with many Elmo sympathizers accusing Zoe of “gaslighting” Elmo. (Yes, it’s absurd that society is currently treating fictional creation Elmo like a real human person, in the same way that it was absurd for Zoe to treat Rocco like a real pet. Ultimately, we are all cut from the same, unhinged cloth.)

Now Elmo has Zoomed into E’s The Daily Pop—a program aimed at living, breathing human adults—to clarify his position on his and Zoe’s heated-viral exchange. The resulting clip seems engineered to go viral in its own right. 

After host Francesa Amiker brings up the feud, a frustrated Elmo says, “Elmo thought this might come up”—speaking in the third person, as is Elmo’s wont, and shouting at his “team” stationed off-camera. The ticklish monster goes on to choose his words very carefully. “Elmo’s going to say this,” he begins. “Elmo loves Zoe. Zoe’s a wonderful friend to Elmo. We have our differences, like Zoe believes that Rocco is real, and Elmo knows that Rocco is a rock.”  Wow, this muppet is not mincing words.

Elmo stands firm in his belief that Rocco is a rock, and as such should not have been given a cookie by Zoe. “Elmo did not apologize to Rocco because Rocco is not real,” he maintains. When Amiker pushes back on this, Elmo only digs his heels further into the sand. “This is the sticking point, Francesca. He does not have feelings. Because he is a rock!”

At this point, Elmo completely loses his composure and has to apologize to Amiker for his sudden outburst. “Elmo doesn’t like it when he loses his temper, so Elmo’s going to calm down, and he’s just going to say it’s a difference of opinion. See, Elmo handled that well,” he says, presumably, to his PR person, standing off screen. Obviously, Elmo is a puppet and, like Rocco, is not real. But, times being what they are, it’s hard not to appreciate his very reasonable, very human response to being robbed of a sweet treat.

If you’re wondering whether Elmo caught a recent SNL sketch lampooning his feud with Rocco, he didn’t. That show, he told the Daily Pop, airs “way past Elmo’s bed time”—though he makes an excited note to his team that being spoofed on SNL means he’s “hit big time.” You’d think someone who already hosts a late night show would be able to stay up to watch SNL, but Elmo clearly is a very particular monster.

Where will Elmo and Rocco’s feud take them next? The logical conclusion, of course, is The Real Housewives of Sesame Street. Imagine it: Elmo tries to mend his splintered relationship with Zoe; Bert and Ernie host a lavish divorce party; and Cookie Monster and Big Bird vie to be the breakout star of the franchise.

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