Wil Wheaton condemns Larry David for his Elmo-based violence

Former Star Trek star (and general Man Of The Internet) Wil Wheaton has issued a scorching takedown of comedian Larry David this week, excoriating the Curb Your Enthusiasm star for taking the very Curb Your Enthusiasm-promoting step of pretending to beat up Sesame Street character Elmo on live TV. Much like Larry David in the presence of red felt and a squeaky voice, Wheaton pulled no punches, calling David “a stupid, self-centered, tone deaf asshole” in a Facebook post about the incident, which happened on The Today Show back on February 1.

In a long essay about the televised incident, Wheaton makes a lot of salient, emotionally vulnerable points about his reaction to David’s stunt, tying it in to memories of parental abuse he suffered as a kid—pointing out, among other things, that, within the agreed-upon fiction that we all adhere to pretty fervently around all things Muppet or Muppet-related, Elmo is a child. Writing, Wheaton notes that “Elmo is an avatar for children all over the world. Children who are too small to understand Elmo is a puppet will know that a man attacked someone they love for no reason, and that will frighten and confuse them.”

All of which has now, of course, been filtered through the general internet, and been processed into the two traditional avenues for such emotional expression: Aggressive sympathy on the one hand, coupled with a general tide of mockery on the other. (To the point that “People making fun of Wil Wheaton for his Elmo opinions” is now a matter of record in trade publications like The Hollywood Reporter. Weird internet we’ve built.)

The real issue, to our minds, is that two things are simultaneously true: It is, in fact, sad to imagine a stressed-out kid seeing Elmo getting punched for trying to talk about mental health in a public forum; it violates, pretty blatantly, all the messaging Sesame Street builds so carefully around these characters to make them relatable touchstones for children who might desperately need to see themselves represented in the world. It is also very funny to see Larry David get so fake-mad about nothing that he pretends to punch a puppet. (More specifically, it speaks to an honesty-motivated violation of social norms that’s a huge part of Curb’s your appeal. We literally pay Larry David to do things we all only fantasize about doing, all the time.)

Both of these things are both a) true and b) unreconcilable with each other—which is fine! Our society has huge number of things it’s okay for adults to view, with their bigger brains, additional context, and more power over their lives, but not for kids to see. David’s real faux pas, then, might be one of positioning and timing: Punching Elmo in a venue where kids might legitimately expect to be watching it happen, might have been drawn to watch it happen, is probably a bridge too far; save it for late-night next time, Mr. Larry.