Here’s Why Elmo’s Cookie Feud With a Rock Is Trending on the Internet, and How Dwayne Johnson ‘The Rock’ Got Involved

More often than not, Twitter tends to get just a little weird.

While Instagram is a platform that’s mostly filled with the “rainbows and butterflies” of everyone’s life — Twitter gets real. Sure, there’s tons of existential dread (what?! Never heard of her), but the memes keep us going even when life gets tough.

The latest Twitter trending topic that has made us laugh more today than we’d like to admit? None other than Elmo’s feud with Rocco, a pet rock. Confused? We were too — prepare to see a whole other side of Elmo you would never expect. 

Twitter user @wumbooty posted a throwback 2004 “Sesame Street” clip of Elmo and his friend Zoe that seemed innocent enough at first glance, but gets heated fast.

The video shows Elmo being seriously gaslighted by Zoe and their human friend Gabi — and Elmo is having none of it. The clip starts off sweetly, with Gabi making both of her furry monster friends some cookies on their playdate — and even a special oatmeal raisin cookie for Zoe’s pet rock Rocco.

Elmo gets excited, saying that oatmeal raisin cookies are “Elmo’s favorite,” but Gabi says she’s all out. With an oatmeal raisin cookie sitting right in front of the very inanimate rock Rocco, Elmo replies, “that’s okay Gabi, Elmo will just eat this one.” Zoe doesn’t let him though, telling Elmo, “wait, wait Elmo, Rocco says that he wants the oatmeal raisin cookie.” And that’s where the drama really starts.

Several episodes of “Sesame Street” leading up to this moment show Zoe gaslighting Elmo with her pet rock, so it wasn’t the first time everyone’s favorite red monster’s feelings were put below Rocco’s. This time, though? Elmo had enough. In an even more high-pitched voice than usual, Elmo tells Zoe, “Rocco? Rocco’s a rock Zoe. Rocco won’t know the difference!” With Zoe still not convinced, Elmo goes off: “How?! How is Rocco going to eat that cookie, Zoe? Tell Elmo. Rocco doesn’t even have a mouth. Rocco is just a rock. Rocco’s not alive!” And yes, we too are absolutely deceased now with that clip. 

People are going absolutely crazy on Twitter about Elmo, Zoe, and Rocco’s feud, making Elmo a trending topic and leading to tons of hilarious replies. One Twitter user compared Elmo and Zoe’s argument to the movie “Marriage Story,” while another simply wrote, “Learning that Elmo and Rocco have been feuding since 1999.”

Others couldn’t stop sharing other clips of Elmo and Rocco’s long-running beef, from this iconic “Not Rocco” birthday clip (we’re crying laughing now), this one about Elmo retracting a question he asked Rocco, or a video that shows Zoe blaming her lateness on Rocco having to “go to the potty” (Elmo is sick of it). 

Thankfully, Elmo is taking all of this in good fun, even though he won’t stop his minor digs at Rocco. Elmo tweeted, “Don’t worry everybody! Elmo and Zoe practiced sharing and are still best buds forever,” but continued with, “Elmo doesn’t want to talk about Rocco.” Well, then. The monster followed it up with another tweet, writing, “Has anybody ever seen a rock eat a cookie? Elmo is just curious.” We’re crowning that the best burn of 2022 so far. 

Now, as reported by Romper, even The Rock himself (A.K.A. Dwayne Johnson, not Rocco) has gotten into all of this, tweeting Elmo, “Yes, my friend. This Rock devours cookies. All kinds of cookies…”

The actor brought Cookie Monster into the feud, writing, “Tell Cookie Monster to move it over, cuz I’m coming to Sesame Street to kick a** and eat cookies.” Making this one of the weirdest feuds in history, Cookie Monster actually replied, writing, “Me say cookie challenge ACCEPTED!!!” We will be looking out for any updates to this, a box of oatmeal raisin cookies in hand.