Taylor Swift’s latest music video, “Opalite,” arrived on Apple Music on February 6 and prompted discussion online, thanks in part to an unexpected response from one of pop culture’s most recognizable characters.
Elmo, the beloved red monster from Sesame Street, weighed in shortly after the video’s release with a pointed joke that longtime fans recognized.
The “Opalite” promo presents Swift as a lonely woman deeply attached to her pet rock before eventually forming a romantic connection with a man played by Domhnall Gleeson, whose own emotional anchor is a miniature cactus.
The pair are brought together through a fictional Opalite spray, framing the video as a whimsical, slightly surreal romantic comedy. For Elmo, however, the pet rock storyline touched a nerve rooted in decades of Sesame Street lore.
“Ms. Taylor Swift… you have got to be kidding Elmo,” the character wrote on X, formerly Twitter, reacting to the video’s central plot. The post circulated among Swift fans, many of whom understood the deeper reference behind the humor.
Elmo’s reaction references his long-running on-screen rivalry with Rocco, a pet rock owned by fellow Sesame Street character Zoe. While other characters humor Rocco’s supposed needs and emotions, Elmo has consistently refused to treat the rock as anything more than an inanimate object.
That frustration gained renewed attention in 2022 after a resurfaced clip from a 2004 episode showed Elmo angrily protesting when Zoe claimed Rocco wanted his oatmeal raisin cookie.
“Rocco’s a rock, Zoe!” Elmo shouted in the clip, which has since become a meme shorthand for exaggerated disbelief.
Fans connected the dots between that moment and Swift’s video, amplifying Elmo’s post across social media.
On Reddit, contributors gathered in a thread discussing the tweet and the video’s premise, largely embracing the crossover humor.
One Reddit user summed up the sentiment succinctly: “Elmo does not play when it comes to rocks.”
Stars Aligned
Other comments focused less on Elmo and more on Swift herself. In a separate Reddit thread discussing the video’s cast, one user pointed to the ease with which Swift assembled a group of high-profile cameos.
“I think it speaks a lot to how much her peers like and respect her that everyone from The Graham Norton Show agreed to be in the video after one comment by Domhnall,” a Reddit pundit offered, adding that online criticism of Swift often contrasts with how colleagues describe her off-camera.
That context aligns with Swift’s own explanation for the video, which she shared after its release. According to Swift, the idea for “Opalite” came together after a casual exchange during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show.
Gleeson jokingly suggested he should be in one of her music videos, prompting Swift to later write and send him the script. She also invited other guests from that episode to appear, resulting in cameos from Jodie Turner-Smith, Greta Lee, Lewis Capaldi and Graham Norton himself, as reported by Parade.
While “Opalite” continues to roll out across platforms, Elmo’s reaction has already secured the video a unique place in the pop culture conversation, blending Swift’s carefully constructed whimsy with a decades-old children’s television feud that refuses to fade from the internet’s memory.
Newsweek has reached out to Sesame Workshop for comment via email.
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