The Tale of NYC’s ‘Bad Elmo’

A man dressed as Elmo in New York City’s Central Park disappeared from the park on Wednesday, one day after he arrived late, saying he had been held for a psychiatric evaluation at a nearby hospital. The man, who goes by the name Adam Sandler, had been videotaped by an English tourist on Sunday going on an anti-Semitic tirade outside the Central Park Zoo—and at least two of his other tirades have gone viral. On Tuesday he removed his Elmo hat and tried to explain himself. In an interview with The New York Times on Tuesday, Sandler, 48, of Oregon, explained that he had gotten in trouble in Cambodia for starting a pornographic website called “Welcome to Rape Camp” after he graduated from the University of Oregon. In April, he independently spent $300 on the Elmo suit, and found that it quickly paid for itself.