“ The man in the red Elmo costume was back to work in Central Park on Tuesday, but under the mask, he was not smiling. He was behind in tips he earns by posing for photographs with tourists. He said he had gotten a late start because he was not...

The man in the red Elmo costume was back to work in Central Park on Tuesday, but under the mask, he was not smiling. He was behind in tips he earns by posing for photographs with tourists. He said he had gotten a late start because he was not released from a psychiatric evaluation at a nearby hospital until midmorning.

And that’s just the beginning of what is turning out to be a crazy story about that creepy Elmo from Times Square. (“Beneath a Ranting Elmo’s Mask, a Man with a Disturbing Past” via the NYT)

11 years ago

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  1. hollybailey posted this

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I am loving this debate over whether there should be a crackdown on the Creepy Elmos/Spider Mans/etc in Times Square.

One, I get to constantly reference one of my all time favorite NY Post stories where an intrepid reporter went undercover in Times Square as Winnie the Pooh and was bullied by the terrifying Minnie Mouse gang. Amazing.

Two, I get to imagine the hilarious spectacle of Sesame Street or the city of New York taking the Creepy Elmos to court and wonder if there will be some ambitious, Johnnie Cochran-type super lawyer to stand up and defend the rights of people who dress up like creepy cartoon characters everywhere. And then I imagine how this plays out on cable TV, for which this story would be like a half-sucked Jolly Rancher dropped near a pile of ants.

But what is really fun about this debate is all the hilarious and somewhat surreal photos of the Creepy Elmos, a source of entertainment since way back in the old days of 2012 when one of my friends took a picture of an Elmo rooting through the trash. (A pioneer of the Creepy Elmo beat!) My latest source of joy is the above photo essay of a day in the life of a Creepy Elmo from Eduardo Munoz at Reuters, which is just perfect.

9 years ago 6 notes

“A homeless man who went on an anti-Semitic tirade in New York City’s Times Square while dressed as Elmo is facing prison time for a plot to extort $2 million from the Girl Scouts.”

In case you needed an AP story you couldn’t make up, here you go. (via shortformblog)

(via shortformblog)
10 years ago 448 notes
newyorker: “ Jonathan Blitzer on nineteen-year-old Virgilia Reyes, who makes a living posing as Elmo in Times Square: http://nyr.kr/1quyOsc “ “Reyes was having more trouble, if only because there were more Elmos to compete with. She made a point of...

newyorker:

Jonathan Blitzer on nineteen-year-old Virgilia Reyes, who makes a living posing as Elmo in Times Square: http://nyr.kr/1quyOsc

“Reyes was having more trouble, if only because there were more Elmos to compete with. She made a point of taking her mask off after every photo. ‘That way, when they’re about to pay, they see that they’re dealing with an actual person,’ she said. At least half the time, people came up to her, took a photo, and then walked away without paying, ignoring Reyes as she protested.”

Photograph by Ruddy Roye.

(Source: newyorker.com, via newyorker)

9 years ago 584 notes

For a good part of 2012, smiling tourists surrounded Joana Toro in Times Square. Strangers hugged her. Some even gave her a few dollars. Talk about getting a big head. Actually, it was all because of her big head, an oversize Hello Kitty mask she wore while working among the costumed characters that have become familiar denizens of the Crossroads of the World.

What started out as a way to make a little extra money while studying English turned into “I Am Hello Kitty,” a photo essay about the anonymous immigrants who transform themselves each day into instantly recognizable figures of American pop culture. Most are from Latin America, said Ms. Toro, who was a photographer in her native Colombia.

“It was shocking at first to see Mickey Mouse did not speak English and was an immigrant from Mexico,” she said. “It was shocking to see the Statue of Liberty having problems with the police. It was surreal. A paradox. It spoke to me of cultural appropriation and migration.”

 I am Hello Kitty (via Lens)

10 years ago 2 notes
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