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“Fire Elon, Not Elmo”: Democrats Ridicule GOP Hearing Aimed at Defunding Public Media

HeadlineMar 27, 2025

On Capitol Hill, far-right Republican Congressmember Marjorie Taylor Greene held a hearing Wednesday as part of a campaign to defund public media. She called NPR and PBS — whose heads were called in to testify — “radical left-wing echo chambers” with a “communist agenda,” as she attacked, among other things, LGBTQ+ programming.

Democrats on the panel highlighted Republicans’ hypocrisy and called to “Fire Elon, not Elmo,” in reference to the beloved children’s program “Sesame Street.” This is Texas Democrat Greg Casar.

Rep. Greg Casar: “My Republican colleagues don’t want to talk about the corporate waste, fraud and abuse, because those corporations fund the Republicans’ campaigns. So, instead, they want to shut down educational programming for kids and their families, and they want to shut down local radio stations. To borrow a phrase from 'Sesame Street,' the letter of the day is C, and it stands for 'corruption.'”

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