“Elmo causing NBA Finals drama” probably wasn’t on your bingo card.
The famed “Sesame Street” puppet is getting pushback from fervent New York basketball fans after wishing both the Knicks and Spurs well before Wednesday night’s NBA Finals Game 1.
“Elmo hopes both teams have fun,” the Muppet wrote on X before the start of the Finals.
The post has since drawn over 12 million views and over a thousand comments, mainly from irate Knicks fans stunned Elmo wasn’t fully endorsing his hometown team before its first NBA Finals game since 1999.
Sesame Street is canonically a New York City street — the show was originally filmed in Manhattan before moving to Queens in 1993.
“Elmo this is the first time I’m not rocking with you. You gotta root for your city man!” X user @UTxJGTheDon replied in the comments.
“Hey man, you from Sesame Street, in the middle of New York City. You better be rooting for the Knicks!” another New York sports fan, @RonDeLaPena, wrote on X.
Several of the comments used colorful language not appropriate for the PBS show, and others used anatomical words to describe their feelings about the post.
Even with Elmo getting serious backlash, the Knicks rallied back from down 14 points in the third quarter to steal Game 1 of the Finals 105-95.
In the Knicks’ first Finals win in 27 years, Jalen Brunson stole the show with a game-high 30 points on 12-of-31 shooting.
Brunson struggled in the first half, but hit a clutch 3 to put the Knicks up 97-95 with under two minutes remaining, and they wouldn’t relinquish that lead.
Karl-Anthony Towns also starred in his first NBA Finals game with 18 points and 12 rebounds, while Josh Hart grabbed 15 boards and added four steals despite only having three points.
Spurs star Victor Wembanyama couldn’t fit his footing, shooting just 6-of-21 from the field.
San Antonio aims to even the series Friday night at 8:30 p.m. ET.
