Adam Sandler (born Danny Mark Sandler; c. 1963), often referred to as Evil Elmo, [1] is a man originally from Oregon who has gained notoriety since 2012 for harassing bystanders in multiple cities in the United States while dressed as various characters from Sesame Street , such as Elmo and Cookie Monster. [2]
Sandler was born c. 1963 [3] as Danny Mark Sandler in Ashland, Oregon. [4] He received an undergraduate degree from the University of Oregon. [5]
In 1999, Sandler was deported from Cambodia for operating a pornography website called "Welcome to Rape Camp". [1] [4] He was referred to by The Cambodia Daily as the country's first known Web pornographer. [6] The website was the subject of an academic paper published in the Journal of Sexual Aggression , with the author noting that viewers were encouraged to "humiliate these Asian sex slaves to your hearts content" and that viewers could pay to have their preferred bondage acts performed on the women. [7] Sandler claimed that the women featured on the site were not harmed, but told the Associated Press that it would be a good thing if the site was perceived as encouraging violence against American women, because "I hate those bitches". He blamed an ongoing divorce for his misogynistic attitudes. As a result of the scandal, he changed his first name to Adam. [8]
In 2012, Sandler was videotaped shouting antisemitic and xenophobic remarks while walking around New York City's Central Park dressed as Elmo. [5] [9] Despite this, Sandler has publicly denied being antisemitic and says that he is actually Jewish. [4] That year, he was also charged with felony extortion against the Girl Scouts of the USA, for whom he briefly worked. [1] [10] Sandler threatened that if he was not paid $2 million, he would tell the public that the Girl Scouts organization arranged for sexual encounters between campers and adult men. He was convicted and sentenced to one year in prison. [3] [11] [12] [13]
In 2013, also dressed as Elmo, Sandler threatened to rip out the throat of a female San Francisco shopkeeper who had put up a sign saying the costumed man was not an employee of her store. He was arrested, jailed, and charged with being a public nuisance, to which he pled guilty, and was banned from Fisherman's Wharf, Union Square, and the Embarcadero for a period of five years. While in San Francisco, Sandler also attracted attention for yelling at tourists who refused to pay him after taking his picture, falsely claiming to work at various stores, and intimidating people with "offensive rants". A manager of a local candy store said that Sandler falsely told people the store was run by the pharmaceutical industry, and that she thought it was "creepy" that "Evil Elmo" posed outside a candy store that attracted children. [1] [10]
Sandler moved to Los Angeles and continued to go on antisemitic rants while working on the Santa Monica Pier. A 2016 article in the Los Angeles Times detailed Sandler's itinerant lifestyle, and said that while costumed performers were not uncommon in Los Angeles, "none of the other[s] is likely to carry a weight greater than Sandler". By this point, he was mainly dressing as Cookie Monster. A police officer said that he had become a "national nuisance". Visitors at a local zoo complained that he had told them not to shop at zoo stores because they were "owned by a Muslim group". He allegedly threatened to beat up another man dressed as Cookie Monster, and told diners that the restaurant they were eating at had "poisoned a small child and bribed congressmen to cover it up." [4]
As of 2023, Sandler was active in Santa Cruz, California, where he was not charged with a crime, but was accused of "badgering people" and behaving in a "creepy" manner. The police put out a statement advising people not to interact with Sandler if they see him. [2] [10]
Elmo is a red Muppet character on the children's television show Sesame Street. A furry red monster who speaks in a high-pitched falsetto voice and frequently refers to himself in the third person, he hosts the last full five-minute segment on Sesame Street, "Elmo's World", which is aimed at toddlers. He was originally performed by Kevin Clash. Following Clash's resignation in late 2012, Elmo has been performed by Ryan Dillon.
John Charles Galliano,, is a British fashion designer. He was the creative director of his eponymous label John Galliano and French fashion houses Givenchy and Dior. Since 2014, Galliano has been the creative director of Paris-based fashion house Maison Margiela. Galliano has been named British Designer of the Year four times. In a 2004 poll for the BBC, he was named the fifth most influential person in British culture.
Sesame Place Philadelphia is a children's theme park and water park based on the children's educational television program Sesame Street. It is one of the two Sesame Place theme parks owned and operated by United Parks & Resorts under an exclusive license from Sesame Workshop, the non-profit owner of Sesame Street. Located outside of Philadelphia in Middletown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, it is the older of the two Sesame Street theme parks in the United States. Sesame Place Philadelphia includes a variety of rides, shows and water attractions suited for young children, and is the first theme park in the world to become a certified autism center.
Rosita is a Muppet character on the children's television series Sesame Street. Fluent in both American English and Mexican Spanish, she is the first regular bilingual Muppet on the show. Rosita comes from Mexico and likes to play the guitar.
Sesame Beginnings is a line of products and a video series, spun off from the children's television series Sesame Street, featuring baby versions of the characters. The line is targeted towards infants and their parents, and products are designed to increase family interactivity.
Disney's Piglet's Big Game is a 2003 action-adventure game developed by French developer Doki Denki Studio. Intended towards younger audiences, the game is based on the Disney version of the Winnie the Pooh franchise. The game is loosely based on Piglet's Big Movie, and centers around Piglet and how he tries to overcome his fears.
Elmo's Christmas Countdown is a 2007 television Christmas special, featuring the characters from Sesame Street. It was first aired on December 23, 2007, on ABC and starred Ben Stiller.
Abby in Wonderland is a 2008 American musical fantasy film that adapts Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland with the Muppets of Sesame Street. Abby Cadabby stars in the role of Alice. The feature-length adventure was released on DVD by Genius Products on September 30, 2008. In addition to receiving a DVD release, the film received a limited theatrical run in September 2008 through the Kidtoons family matinee series, and was aired on PBS Kids Feast of Favorites during the week of Thanksgiving 2008. It was aired again on December 29, 2008 on local PBS stations.
Cookie Monster is a blue Muppet character on the PBS/HBO children's television show Sesame Street. He is best known for his voracious appetite and his famous eating catchphrases, such as "Me want cookie!" As his name suggests, his preferred food is cookies, though he eats almost anything, including inedible objects. Chocolate chip cookies are his favorite kind. His speech is often grammatically nonstandard; for example, he always uses "Me" to refer to himself in place of "I", "My", and "Mine". Despite his voracious appetite for cookies, Cookie Monster shows awareness of healthy eating habits for young children and also enjoys fruit and vegetables.
There have been a variety of Sesame Street video games released for video game platforms. Most of the Sesame Street video games were published and developed by NewKidCo.
Antisemitic incidents escalated worldwide in frequency and intensity during the Gaza War, and were widely considered to be a wave of reprisal attacks in response to the conflict.
It, also known as Pennywise, Robert 'Bob' Gray, and Pennywise the Dancing Clown, is the titular antagonist in Stephen King's 1986 horror novel It. The character is an ancient, trans-dimensional malevolent entity who preys upon the children of Derry, Maine, roughly every 27 years, using a variety of powers that include the ability of shapeshifting and manipulation of reality. During the course of the story, It primarily appears in the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. "The Losers Club" becomes aware of Pennywise's presence after it kills Bill Denbrough's little brother, Georgie.
Antisemitism in France has become heightened since the late 20th century and into the 21st century. In the early 21st century, most Jews in France, like most Muslims in France, are of North African origin. France has the largest population of Jews in the diaspora after the United States—an estimated 500,000–600,000 persons. Paris has the highest population, followed by Marseille, which has 70,000 Jews. Expressions of antisemitism were seen to rise during the Six-Day War of 1967 and the French anti-Zionist campaign of the 1970s and 1980s. Following the electoral successes achieved by the extreme right-wing National Front and an increasing denial of the Holocaust among some persons in the 1990s, surveys showed an increase in stereotypical antisemitic beliefs among the general French population.
The Furchester Hotel is a puppet series that aired on CBeebies. It was the second British-American spin-off of Sesame Street that the BBC had made after Sesame Tree 6 years before. The show ran on CBeebies on 26 September 2014. The show aired in 2016 on Sprout until March 2, 2019.
Once Upon a Sesame Street Christmas is a one-hour Sesame Street Christmas special that first aired on HBO on November 25, 2016, and on November 22, 2017, on PBS. It was the franchise's first Christmas special in ten years.
Sesame Street: 25 Wonderful Years is the home video version of Sesame Street Jam: A Musical Celebration, a special aired on PBS during their pledge drive on March 6, 1994, that commemorates Sesame Street’s 25th anniversary in 1994. This program was originally released on October 29, 1993, under the title Sesame Street's 25th Birthday: A Musical Celebration!25 Wonderful Years focused on celebrity segments, many coming from segments filmed for the show's upcoming 25th season, of artists such as En Vogue and Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
Mecha Builders is an American animated children's television series and a spin-off of Sesame Street that began production in May 2020. The series is produced by Sesame Workshop and animated by Guru Studio.
Hustle is a 2022 American sports comedy-drama film directed by Jeremiah Zagar, written by Taylor Materne and Will Fetters, and co-produced by and starring Adam Sandler as a down-on-his-luck National Basketball Association (NBA) scout who discovers a raw but talented basketball player in Spain and tries to prepare him for the NBA draft. The film also stars Queen Latifah, Ben Foster, Robert Duvall, Heidi Gardner, and current NBA player Anthony Edwards. LeBron James produced the film through his SpringHill Company banner.