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For Sale Apr 22, 2026 at 1:05 AM

Ramy Youssef Trolls MAGA Backlash to His ‘Sesame Street’ Episode Where Elmo Spoke Arabic: ‘Elmo Saying Habibi Has Set Them Off’

Posted by icey_sawg0034

Ramy Youssef Trolls MAGA Backlash to His ‘Sesame Street’ Episode Where Elmo Spoke Arabic: ‘Elmo Saying Habibi Has Set Them Off’
Variety
Ramy Youssef Trolls MAGA Backlash to His ‘Sesame Street’ Episode Where Elmo Spoke Arabic: ‘Elmo Saying Habibi Has Set Them Off’
Ramy Youssef responded to MAGA backlash to his 'Sesame Street' episode in which he taught Elmo Arabic words: 'Elmo saying Habibi has set them off.'
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31 Comments

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Digibutter64 Apr 22, 2026 +33
I mean, *Sesame Street* has always been quite inclusive, no?
33
Mansidhe Apr 22, 2026 +3
Shush, don't give them another manufactured outrage reason to target it. Sesame was famously used by the *clearly white guy* Ali Baba - er, I mean Al Bob - in a half-remembered cartoon from their childhood, so it gets a pass.
3
rhunter99 Apr 22, 2026 +96
Learning new languages. The horror. 😒
96
MDFan4Life Apr 22, 2026 +37
Back in the '80s-'90s, it was French. The early-mid-'00s, Spanish. Still can't speak French, or Spanish.🤔
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SylphSeven Apr 22, 2026 +11
Apparently some folks still can't speak English either. Guess Elmo gotta find another language that'll stick better. 🤷‍♀️
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Walmartian_Beta Apr 22, 2026 +5
Now it's Haitian Creole! I've been studying off and on for a year, absolutely hilarious to me how many people get pissed off about it too. "Why you learning that? So you can talk to those dog-eaters?" Learning new languages is fun, everyone should try it!
5
MentalDisintegrat1on Apr 22, 2026 +6
Learning is for libruls.
6
monexicano Apr 22, 2026 +18
Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo, who said on “The Ingraham Angle”: “I wish ‘Sesame Street’ would stick to teaching kids about letters and numbers and leave the Arabic immersion to someone else. Next, Bert and Ernie will be praying five times a day on Sesame Street, facing east.” This Arroyo fella sure is fuckin dumb.
18
Walmartian_Beta Apr 22, 2026 +17
They were pissed when Big Bird went to Japan too - I was around 7, and I remember hearing my grandpa b**** about it because his brother was a Japanese POW and he didn't think it was right for them to be showing kids that the Japanese were good people and all that. This kind of thing, bridging gaps between cultures and teaching children about the "other" people of the world, has been Sesame Street's thing for a LONG f****** time!
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monexicano Apr 22, 2026 +6
You’re damn right. They showed kids, like me back in the day, a big world in a small neighborhood.
6
blue_sidd Apr 22, 2026 +25
Fun fact for that fucko: our numbers are Arabic immersion.
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play_images Apr 22, 2026 +7
No don't tell them that or they'll campaign in that. Before you now it Alabama will be using Roman numerals
7
clyab Apr 22, 2026 +34
Growing up in a secular household, I vividly remember learning about Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Christmas from Sesame Street. Nothing has changed from then to now, it’s just Islamophobia
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notathrowaway1133 Apr 22, 2026 +20
It’s not even just Islamophobia, it’s pure racism. Arab Christians also use the word habibi. Complete mask off moment for conservatives.
20
Leopardos40 Apr 22, 2026 +17
Being an Arab and seeing MAGA heads are against me, makes me feels so good. If these f*cks are my opposite, I feel so accomplished.
17
runthepoint1 Apr 22, 2026 +18
Fuckers can’t even speak their own language correctly and want to b**** about other languages? Breathe harder.
18
PersonalityAlive6475 Apr 22, 2026 +6
I read “Elmo saying ‘habibi’ has set them off” as a quote from a video clip of Elmo’s first-person commentary on the situation.
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SourceScope Apr 22, 2026 +6
Doesnt that word mean “darling” or “love” as in loved one?
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orvilleshrek Apr 22, 2026 +14
Yes, but in practice it’s used extremely liberally in a lot of Arabic speaking cultures. Like it’s normal and common for a man to call another man he doesn’t know well habibi. Source: am a Lebanese American lol
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TheFumingatzor Apr 22, 2026 +1
>stick to teaching kids about letters and numbers and leave the Arabic immersion to someone else Habibi, do I have a surprise for ya...
1
Abu_Nimr Apr 22, 2026
"Elmo saying habibi has set them off" joins "Inshallah they find him"
0
mekilat Apr 22, 2026 -4
I think it's cool Sesame Street did this. I also think Ramy is really milking the whole Arabic angle and would do a bigger service to the muslim community if he stood more as comedian, rather than just playing the muslim card every time. To be clear, I'm brown too. I think he's pandering too much and it's lazy.
-4
blue_sidd Apr 22, 2026 +7
….are you saying that as either Arab or Muslim as the two are not interchangeable?
7
mekilat Apr 22, 2026
The dude is american, has never lived there, but his comedy is about being a muslim. Most of his sketches are about being muslim and representing the arab world. Sometimes it's Egypt, sometimes it's Palestine, or Saudi. I'm saying it's not particularly interesting, and I wish he tried to do material that didn't just vaguely leverage his religion and ethnicity, particularly where there are comedians that are from there.
0
Walmartian_Beta Apr 22, 2026 +5
He's milking his ethnicity? That's an interesting f****** take.
5
20sjivecat Apr 22, 2026 +4
Because there is already so much positive representation on tv… Let him do his thing. Especially as long as people still get upset about it.
4
qabeel99 Apr 22, 2026
But not a peep when funding for this programming was cut by their Dear Leader.
0
Fanabala3 Apr 22, 2026
Ugh…. If there was one thing that Sesame Street did since it started, was teach inclusion. These idiots getting up in arms obviously never paid attention.
0
DiaperBoyKris Apr 22, 2026
Let me get this right… they hate Sesame Street so much they defunded them and PBS and now they are angry because their cherished muppets are speaking a foreign language? Pick a f****** lane.
0
FuckYourFavoriteSub Apr 22, 2026 -1
Oh man.. wait until they all find out the whole world basically counts in Arabic. This would normally be frightening if I wasn’t so concerned that they may not be able to count.
-1
TotalRecognition2191 Apr 22, 2026
Maga should just all move to one area and the rest of us can just live happily and diversely together
0
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