--- title: Cookie Monster Cat Stars in Error Email That Goes Vial description: Cookie monster cat stars in an accidental email that the U.S. Embassy in Australia sends out to a bunch of people. canonical: https://time.com/5424588/cookie-monster-cat/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-15T12:26:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:55:27.646Z og:title: Viral Cookie Monster Cat Invitation Was Sent By Accident og:description: The internet is RSVPing "yes" og:url: https://time.com/5424588/cookie-monster-cat/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe4110f379ec3008/69893c9e457a523129d5f9e8/cookiemonster.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Cookie Monster Plastic Toy - Sesame Street og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Viral Cookie Monster Cat Invitation Was Sent By Accident twitter:description: The internet is RSVPing "yes" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe4110f379ec3008/69893c9e457a523129d5f9e8/cookiemonster.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This American Embassy Didn't Mean to Invite People to a Pajama Jam Hosted By Cookie Monster Cat by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Oct 15, 2018 12:26 PM UTC  Cookie Monster is a popular character on the children's television show Sesame Street. This Muppet is best known for his huge appetite and his famous eating phrases: "Me want cookie!", "Me eat cookie!" The Sesame Street program is known for its educational content, and creative use of Jim Henson's Muppets to communicate wide variety of messages to young kids. Cookie Monster is a popular character on the children's television show Sesame Street. This Muppet is best known for his huge appetite and his famous eating phrases: "Me want cookie!", "Me eat cookie!" The Sesame Street program is known for its educational content, and creative use of Jim Henson's Muppets to communicate wide variety of messages to young kids.ivanastar—Getty Images by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Oct 15, 2018 12:26 PM UTC One day you think you’re invited to a wonderful party filled with cookies and cats in sleepwear, but the next day, you’re out. Due to a “[training error](http://time.com/5172172/curling-gold-medal-match/),” the American embassy in Australia accidentally extended an invitation via [e-mail](http://time.com/4881849/white-house-email-prank/) to a cat pajama party to an unknown number of people last week, according to the [Australian Associated Press](https://au.news.yahoo.com/us-embassy-apology-cat-pyjama-invite-012659781--spt.html). The photo: a cat lying back on a couch in an electric blue Cookie Monster costume with a plate of chocolate cookies on its fuzzy belly. The subject line: “meeting.” The whole thing may have been an accident, but it was a happy one for the internet. There was no [cat pajama party](http://time.com/5394127/tim-cook-twitter/), but it was very appreciated by social media users, who wanted to RSVP, “yes.” (The image was already popular on the [internet](https://me.me/t/cookie-monster) as a photo illustrating peak relaxation.) The U.S. Mission to Australia Public Affairs Counselor Gavin Sundwall ended up making an apology in an e-mail two days after the cooler e-mail with the cat in a Cookie Monster costume. “Sorry to disappoint those of you who were hoping to attend this ‘cat pyjama-jam’ party, but such an event falls well outside our area of expertise,” he wrote, according to the [BBC](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-45859969). “It was a training error made by one of our new staff testing out our email newsletter platform.” He added that the embassy would be introducing “strong new management controls” to prevent anything like this from happening again. But the news that there’s no party has had the opposite effect: even New Zealand’s embassy is attending the “virtual celebration” online. > [](https://twitter.com/cmdrsue/status/1051675709935104001) > [](https://twitter.com/joshgnosis/status/1051648297314578432) > [](https://twitter.com/usembassynz/status/1051674111712186368) > [](https://twitter.com/MintaroOba/status/1051687469899534336) > [](https://twitter.com/BowTiePolitics/status/1051657439148433408) The U.S. has not had an ambassador to Australia since 2016\. President Donald Trump had originally eyed Harry Harris for the role, but Harris is now in South Korea. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5424588/cookie-monster-cat/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5424588/cookie-monster-cat/"},"headline":"This American Embassy Didn't Mean to Invite People to a Pajama Jam Hosted By Cookie Monster Cat","datePublished":"2018-10-15T12:26:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:55:27.646Z","description":"Cookie monster cat stars in an accidental email that the U.S. Embassy in Australia sends out to a bunch of people.","url":"https://time.com/5424588/cookie-monster-cat/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe4110f379ec3008/69893c9e457a523129d5f9e8/cookiemonster.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfe4110f379ec3008/69893c9e457a523129d5f9e8/cookiemonster.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Cookie Monster Plastic Toy - Sesame Street","caption":"Cookie Monster Plastic Toy - Sesame Street","creditText":"ivanastar—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5424588/cookie-monster-cat/","name":"This American Embassy Didn't Mean to Invite People to a Pajama Jam Hosted By Cookie Monster Cat"}}]}] ```