TIMES SQUARE — The proportion of disabled characters in media, which is about 2.8%, increased just a little today, in the unlikeliest of places: the heart of 42nd street.
The secondary Elmos you know and love skulk around the streets of the Big Apple with a vacant, off-putting look in their eyes and fur the color of a Kool-Aid stain. If you have $20 (and a desire to commit the experience to memory for life), you can get a photo with one of them! If you are one of the lucky ones, you will run into TikTok’s latest viral sensation: Amputee Elmo.
Parents are spending thousands for their disabled children to get a photo with him; he is the only Elmo in existence whose leg has been amputated. The children have either prosthetic legs or wheelchairs while, oddly, Elmo has a human leg where his red furry one used to be. There are strings and stitches sticking out of the phantom socket — our news team assumes the surgery was recent and he is not fully healed. What a trooper.
After months on the waiting list, we were able to speak to Amputee Elmo about what his newfound fame means to him. Strangely, his voice sounded like someone doing an impression of Elmo, not the actual Elmo.
“Amputee Elmo wanted to get a ‘leg up’ on all the other Times Square characters,” he said, speaking in the third person. Then his voice dropped to a deep, gravelly tone. “Subway doors are tricky. It got stuck. Either the costume or me went, so.” His cheerful, high-pitched voice returned along with the third-person delivery. “I mean, Big Bird and Elmo got into a fight. You know how it is. But now Elmo makes others’ lives easier because he exists.” His voice dropped again. “And I get $20 a pop. Wait, can you cut out that last part?”
Amputee Elmo gave us a discount on a photo with him — what a saint! Hopefully we meet again on Sesame Street, although it’s unclear whether their local subway station is accessible.