Elmo from Sesame Street is right to hate Rocco the rock

Elmo’s about to crumble. Sure, the lovable red puppet seems like he lives a quaint life on the popular children’s show Sesame Street. He is happy to spend his whole life with friends learning ABCs. However, his dark side has not been so obvious. Elmo is currently in a feud with Rocco from 1999. The conflict is the focus of a viral clip on the show.

Rocco (also known as Rocko) is Zoe’s pet rock. Rocco in the show is essentially a rock Zoe carries with her. It’s not a rock-inspired puppet. It’s not a real pet named Rocco. It’s a normal grey rock — basalt apparently. I imagine the show producer taking it along on a random walk, and then setting it. The stone first appeared on air in 1999 in an episode called “Zoe’s pet rock, Rocco” and Elmo has not known peace since.

On Tuesday, a clip of Elmo calling out his friends on their bullshit went viral on Twitter from a 2005 episode titled “Elmo feels he’s treated unfairly by Rocco.” In it, Elmo asks for an oatmeal raisin cookie to which his friends Zoe and Gabi tell him he can’t have because Rocco wants it. (Oatmeal raisin is Elmo’s favorite, by the way.)

Elmo’s frustration comes to a head and he says, “How?! How will Rocco eat the cookie Zoe?!? Elmo, tell him! Rocco doesn’t even have a mouth. Rocco’s just a rock. Rocco’s not alive!” Kevin Clash, who puppeted and voiced Elmo at the time, delivers the lines with the absolute fury of a child who can acknowledge what’s plainly in front of them. View the video. the scene below.

A brief look into Rocco’s filmography reveals just how unending Rocco’s reign of terror has been. In episode 4126, Zoe throws an entire birthday party for Rocco (and introduces us to the rest of Rocco’s family), and characters are tasked with figuring out what to get Rocco as a gift. Episode 4043 sees Elmo and Zoe embark on a search and rescue mission in order to locate Rocco. In an episode another, Rocco nearly committed involuntary killing by being almost eaten by Cookie Monster.

Rocco is a rock and doesn’t deserve someone’s favorite cookie. Elmo doesn’t make it sound like it is. And maybe it’s everyone’s collective mood after dealing with a pandemic that’s upended nearly every part of society, but it seems like everyone is now finally ready to call Zoe and all the other Sesame StreetThe characters in their bullshit.