Philly Elmo

About

Philly Elmo refers to a man wearing an Elmo costume often seen alongside a drumline in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The costume is work by William Futon, who first went viral as "Philly Elmo" in 2018 when he was videographed marching with the Positive Movement Entertainment drumline near the Kensington Fire in July 2018. Philly Elmo has since become a notable and recognizable figure in Philadelphia, making an appearance at various protests and events, including Super Bowl celebrations in Philadelphia.

Origin

On July 11th, 2018, YouTuber^[1] Rocco Avallone posted a video titled, "Elmo at the Great Philadelphia Trash Fire of 2018," gathering over 800,000 views in over four years (seen below).

The video was also uploaded to Rocco Avallone's Twitter,^[2] where it gathered over 17,000 likes and 8 million views in over four years (seen below).

Elmo came thru to the philly trash fire of 2018 #phillyfire #kensingtonfire pic.twitter.com/fCQjCqqSmi

— Rocco Avallone (@RoccoAvallone) July 11, 2018

Spread

In 2020, a photo of a man wearing an Elmo costume in summer 2020 at the BLM protests went viral, with various internet users mistaking him for William Futon a.k.a Philly Elmo. On June 1st, 2020, the image was posted to the subreddit /r/funny,^[3] from where it has since been deleted (seen below). A meme comparing Elmo Rise and the protester also went viral on Tumblr in June 2020.^[4] William Futon took to his Instagram on May 31st to clarify that the protestor was not him.^[5]

On August 20th, 2020, Twitter^[6] user @hate5six posted a tweet about Philly Elmo, gathering over 7,000 likes in over two years (seen below).

DRUM LINE ELMO JUST PERFORMED IN FRONT OF MY APARTMENT THIS IS THE GREATEST THING TO EVER HAPPEN TO ME I'VE BEEN TRYING TO FILM HIM EVER SINCE THE "ELMO AT THE GREAT PHILADELPHIA TRASH FIRE 2018" VIRAL VIDEOTHEY ARE LITERALLY CANVASSING EVERY STREET IN SOUTH PHILLY RN pic.twitter.com/d5xHL8AZil

— hate5six (@hate5six) April 19, 2020

On October 24th, 2022, Twitter^[7] user @MedlowMinus posted a video of Elmo and the drumline performing at a gathering for Philadelphia going to the World Series, gathering over 2,000 likes in over three months (seen below).

We’re going to the World Series, Philadelphia! Philly Elmo let’s git it. #RedOctober #gophillies #worldseriesjawn pic.twitter.com/I3Du01sAfI

— Meredith Edlow (@MedlowMinus) October 24, 2022

Search Interest

External References