Child-Friendly YouTube Channel Gets Adult Makeover

Instead of seeing their favorite Sesame street characters like Elmo, Bert and Ernie, children who viewed the Sesame Street YouTube page on Sunday saw something very different. USAToday.com reported that YouTube users MREDXWX and MRSUICIDER91 hacked the site and posted porn. The porn was on the site for over 20 minutes before it was taken off.

Google and Sesame Workshop Apologizes to the Public

BBC.com reported that in a statement by Google, who owns the site YouTube, “YouTube's Community Guidelines prohibit graphic content. As always, we remove inappropriate material as soon as we are made aware of it.” CNN.com reported that Sesame Workshop, the non-profit organization which is associated with and supports Sesame Street, also made a statement expressing their apologies. 

In a quote to CNN.com, “Our channel was compromised and we are presently working with YouTube/Google to restore our original content," the group said. "We always strive to provide age-appropriate content for our viewers and hope to resolve this problem quickly.”

YouTube user: "I did not hack Sesame Street" 

Though there were two hackers who took responsibility for getting into the site and posting the explicit content, one of them is denying it. Sophos, the security company who spotted the porn told Techworld.com that YouTube user MrEdxwx later posted a video denying that he should be held accountable for the posts on the site because he did not partake in any of the activity. CNN.com reported that MrEdxwx posted a video on his own page saying, “I did not hack Sesame Street. I am an honest YouTuber," and, "I work hard to make quality gameplay videos, and most important I respect the community guidelines."

Not the First Time

This is not obviously not the first time people have hacked into family-friendly YouTube channels and posted pornographic or “X-rated” material on the sites. BBC.com reported that in May 2010 the YouTube site had to remove videos from famous artists like The Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana because they were mixed with adult content.