On-screen, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has faced off against mad scientists, rogue militaries and enchanted enemies, but his latest target surprised some fans: Elmo of Sesame Street. Johnson poked fun at the fuzzy red monster on Twitter on Thursday, and the exchange soon spiraled out of control. Here’s a quick run-down of how their beef got started.
Elmo and Sesame Street began trending on Twitter on Monday when a random clip from a 2004 episode somehow went viral. It showed Elmo and his friend Zoe trying to decide how to share a cookie, while Zoe wanted to include her pet rock Rocco in the split. The out-of-context video amused users all week, and on Wednesday the official Elmo twitter account got in on the fun by tweeting: “Has anybody ever seen a rock eat a cookie? Elmo is just curious.” Here, Johnson apparently saw his opening.
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“Yes, my friend. This Rock devours cookies. All kinds of cookies,” the actor wrote with a smiling-devil emoji. “I’ll introduce you to [cheat meals] and it’ll change your life. Tell Cookie Monster to move it over, cuz I’m coming to Sesame Street to kick ass and eat cookies. And I’m almost all out of cookies.”
In addition to the viral Rocco clip, Johnson was also referencing his infamous Instagram posts where he shows off his “cheat meals” between long stretches of intense dieting. His post got a prompt response from the official Cookie Monster account reading: “Me say cookie challenge ACCEPTED!!!”
Many fans and commenters hoped that this meant Johnson was literally setting up a guest appearance on Sesame Street, perhaps including a cookie-eating contest with Cookie Monster. So far, there has been no formal announcement, although many are discussing it as an inevitability. In fact, some were surprised to realize that Johnson has never been a guest on Sesame Street before considering his long tenure as a family-friendly celebrity.
Now is a great time for Johnson to check that item off his career bucket list. The actor has two young daughters around the perfect age to appreciate a Sesame Street cameo. Of course, the fact that the show is generating a lot of chatter online right now doesn’t hurt either.
Sesame Street airs on weekdays at 9 a.m. ET on PBS. It is also streaming on HBO Max, YouTube and Roku, and it has a dedicated app for iOS devices.
