Elmo’s “Kwanzaa” Lesson: Why Sesame Street Should Know Better

Sesame Street marked Kwanzaa this year with a post featuring actor Michael B. Jordan, drawing criticism for celebrating a holiday created by a convicted felon. The message appeared on December 26, the day after Christmas.

“Happy Kwanzaa! Thank you to Mr. Michael B. Jordan for visiting everybody on Sesame Street. It was so special to celebrate Kwanzaa with you! Habari Gani!” the Elmo X account announced.

Happy Kwanzaa! Thank you to Mr. Michael B. Jordan for visiting everybody on Sesame Street. It was so special to celebrate Kwanzaa with you! Habari Gani! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/NMchnbPGPN

— Elmo (@elmo) December 26, 2025

The social media account first began celebrating Kranzaa back in 2023.

Kwanzaa was invented in 1966 by Ronald McKinley Everett, later known as Maulana Karenga. Karenga was a Marxist activist and separatist who taught Black studies at California State University after leading an extremist group in Los Angeles. Karenga founded an organization called US, a militant group that often fought with police and rival Black Power groups. Members of US were involved in deadly clashes, including the 1969 murders of two Black Panthers at UCLA.

In 1971, Karenga was convicted of assaulting and torturing women in his own group. The Los Angeles Times reported that he burned one victim with a soldering iron and used a vise to crush another woman’s toe. After serving his sentence, he continued to promote Kwanzaa as a cultural holiday.

Even today, fewer than one-fifth of Black Americans actually celebrate Kwanzaa, according to left-wing outlet The Atlantic. The majority of Black families observe Christmas annually, while Kwanzaa remains mostly a media fueled campaign with little to no grassroots participation.

Even with Karenga’s violent past being common knowledge to many, Sesame Street continues to present Kwanzaa as harmless tradition, ignoring the disturbing origins of the holiday and the history of the man behind it.

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