Ramy Youssef stopped by Sesame Street last week to celebrate Arab-American Heritage Month with Elmo and teach the red Muppet Arabic words like “habibi” and “salaam alaykum.”
The comedian’s cute appearance on a children’s show prompted a backlash from conservatives, including Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo, who said on “The Ingraham Angle” that “Sesame Street should stick to teaching kids letters and numbers and leave the Arabic immersion to someone else. Next, Bert and Ernie will be praying five times a day on Sesame Street, facing east.”
Addressing MAGA’s ire on “The View,” Yousef cheekily said, “I feel for them, right? … I think they’re worried about[the Arabic language]and it’s tough, because I think they’re supporters of the president. So imagine the president tweeting, ‘Praise be to Allah,’ on Easter, and now Elmo saying, ‘Habibi,’ and it feels threatening.”
Yousef was referring to President Trump’s April 5 social media post demanding that Iran “open the strait, you crazy bastard, or you’ll live in hell.” The president added: “Attention! Praise be to Allah.”
On “The View,” Youssef called his “Sesame Street” guest appearance “surreal.”
“You grew up watching Elmo, right?” he said. “So when Elmo says, ‘Salaam aleikumu,’ when Elmo says, ‘Habibi,’…I was very moved.”
The Arabic words Yusef taught Elmo mean “peace be with you” and “my love,” but the cartoonist and “Rummy” star never understood why some people were so upset.
“There’s been a lot of languages on ‘Sesame Street,’ and there hasn’t been any backlash against them, so I was actually really surprised,” Youssef said. He added that while he has been outspoken on highly controversial issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian issue, “Elmo saying ‘Habibi’ caused the problem in a way that has never happened to me before.”
Youssef’s third HBO comedy special, “In Love,” premiered on April 17th.
