Squash Me Elmo?

Steamroller crushes puppet's funnybone

December 23, 1996
Web posted at: 5:30 p.m. EST

LANDOVER, Maryland (CNN) -- One of the holiday season's hottest gifts came to an early demise Monday. A "Tickle Me Elmo" doll was flattened into a furry pancake by a 10-ton steamroller driven by Steve Kovens and his sons of Timonium, Maryland.

Elmo Gets Squashed
small frame: (1.1M/21 sec. QuickTime movie)
large frame: (3.4M/21 sec. QuickTime movie)

"The Flattening" was sponsored by radio station WHFS 99.1 FM as a "reaffirmation of the holiday spirit" and to benefit the Children's HIV/AIDS Model Program at Children's Hospital National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Kovens paid $800 for the privilege of smushing Elmo.

The doll was donated by Mike and Rich Stanson of Glen Burnie, Maryland.

WHFS stated that while it is an ardent supporter of Elmo and Sesame Street, "it amazes us that his positive message has been lost on greedy parents who have been taken in by the hype-driven media."

The station pointed to incidents in recent weeks of "out of control parents" attacking clerks and chasing delivery trucks.

"The true spirit of Christmas is giving and peace," said the station's morning product producer Michael Giannini. "How are children supposed to learn this while witnessing their parents engaged in fist-fights over a toy?"

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