Accuser recants allegations against Elmo puppeteer
UPDATE on the story from The Associated Press:
“The man who accused Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash of having sex with him when he was a teen now says it isn’t so.
The man is now saying his sexual relationship with Clash was adult and consensual.
In response to the statement Tuesday afternoon, Clash issued a statement of his own, saying he is “relieved that this painful allegation has been put to rest.”
The man, who has not identified himself, released his statement through the Harrisburg, Pa., law firm of Andreozzi & Associates.”
Below is the original blog and story from The Associated Press:
Kevin Clash, the longtime puppeteer of Elmo on Sesame Street, has been accused of having a relationship with an underage boy. Clash denies it. Sesame Workshop investigated and said while he exercised some bad judgment, the company couldn’t substantiate the underage aspect. But now the puppeteer is on leave to defend himself.
Sesame Street is in production and a source close to production said Elmo would be in the shows with or without Clash there to perform.
Here is the full story from AP:
NEW YORK (AP) — The puppeteer who performs as Elmo on “Sesame Street” is taking a leave of absence from the iconic kids’ show in the wake of allegations that he had a relationship with a 16-year-old boy.
Puppeteer Kevin Clash has denied the charges, which, according to Sesame Workshop, were first made in June by the accuser, who by then was 23.
“We took the allegation very seriously and took immediate action,” Sesame Workshop said in a statement issued Monday. “We met with the accuser twice and had repeated communications with him. We met with Kevin, who denied the accusation.”
The organization described the relationship as “unrelated to the workplace.” Its investigation found the allegation of underage conduct to be unsubstantiated. But it said Clash exercised “poor judgment” and was disciplined for violating company policy regarding Internet usage. It offered no details.
“I had a relationship with the accuser,” Clash said in a statement of his own. “It was between two consenting adults and I am deeply saddened that he is trying to characterize it as something other than what it was.”
Sex with a person under 17 is a felony in New York if the perpetrator is at least 21. It was unclear where the relationship took place, and there is no record of any criminal charge against Clash in the state.
Clash, the 52-year-old divorced father of a grown daughter, added, “I am a gay man. I have never been ashamed of this or tried to hide it, but felt it was a personal and private matter.
“I am taking a break from Sesame Workshop to deal with this false and defamatory allegation,” he said.
Neither Clash nor Sesame Workshop indicated how long his absence might be.
“Elmo is bigger than any one person and will continue to be an integral part of ‘Sesame Street’ to engage, educate and inspire children around the world, as it has for 40 years,” Sesame Workshop said in its statement.
“Sesame Street” is in production, but other puppeteers are prepared to fill in for Clash during his absence, according to a person close to the show who spoke on condition of anonymity because that person was not authorized to publicly discuss details about the show’s production.
“Elmo will still be a part of the shows being produced,” that person said….
Clash has won 23 daytime Emmy awards and one prime-time Emmy.
Clash has been a puppeteer for “Sesame Street” since 1984, when he was handed the fuzzy red puppet with ping-pong-ball eyes and asked to come up with a voice for him. Clash transformed the character, which had languished as a marginal member of the Muppets family for a number of years, into a major star that rivaled Big Bird as the face of “Sesame Street.”…
So what do you think: Do you even mention to the kids who are watching that Elmo might sound different or wait to see if they notice? Do you think you would notice a difference?
What do make of Sesame Street getting dragged into controversies: Katy Perry’s video with the questionable outfit a few years back, Mitt Romney’s quote on Big Bird and now this?
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70 comments Add your comment
DONNAN OF A NEW ERA
November 13th, 2012
5:10 pm
“What do make of Sesame Street getting dragged into controversies: Katy Perry’s video with the questionable outfit a few years back, Mitt Romney’s quote on Big Bird and now this?”
How is Mitt Romney’s view of Big Bird a controversy? PBS isn’t going bankrupt and taxpayer dollars are wasted on left wing crap like Charlie Rose etc.
Phil from Athens
November 13th, 2012
5:12 pm
“Sesame Workshop investigated and said while he exercised some bad judgment”
Which means he had an illegal relationship with a minor. Is Big Bird a licensed investigator now?
Phil from Athens
November 13th, 2012
5:14 pm
“are we going to find out Bart Simpson is actually a girl???”
Why yes, Bart is a girl. In fact, the voice of Bart is a woman.
Fred ™
November 13th, 2012
5:18 pm
Just damn.
Sam
November 13th, 2012
5:42 pm
Please, PLEASE publish the recanting story, now that this pot has been so stirred:
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/13/accuser-recants-allegation-against-elmo-puppeteer/?smid=tw-share
Accuser Recants Allegation Against Elmo Puppeteer – New York Times (blog) « Contacto Latino News
November 13th, 2012
5:47 pm
[...] Innocence Lost! The Elmo Guy & Other Weird Sex Scandals (LIST) Global Grind TMZ.com -Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) -TIME all 1,317 news articles » Tags: English, Top StoriesPosted in World | No [...]
Accuser Recants Allegation Against Elmo Puppeteer – New York Times (blog) | 24 Hour News Online Australia
November 13th, 2012
5:52 pm
[...] Lost! The Elmo Guy & Other Weird Sex Scandals (LIST)Global GrindTMZ.com -Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) -TIMEall 1,317 news articles » This entry was posted in World and tagged [...]
DB
November 13th, 2012
7:35 pm
Any kid old enough to notice the change in the voice is probably too old to be watching “Sesame Street” Heck, NO, this isn’t discussed with children! If someone DOES notice, then a simple, “Sounds like Elmo might have a cold,” will do the trick.
fockimeen
November 13th, 2012
7:55 pm
The scariest thing about these comments is the unbridled naïveté and ignorance of the writers on so many subjects. Where to begin?
First, the people who work at Sesame (whatever it’s called now) are not just puppet and voice talents; they are masters of the universe at what they do. While they do create characters, each one is able to mimic most if not all of the other voices. That is why they are working there. Only a well-trained audiophile could tell the difference between the characters voiced by Clash or someone else. What do you think Sesame does when someone is hospitalized, on vacation, hoarse or even dead? Yes, they can pretape the scene, but they also use replacement voices and puppeteers. Get real.
Second, it is frightening to think that many of the comments are written by parents. Do you have no idea how a child’s mind operates? Clearly not. Children (Sesame-aged children) do not process information in a realistic manner. They are visualizing and hearing distorted images that they incorporate into their fantasy lives. “Oh, that’s me with Elmo! No, mommy, it really is!!” Kids are not zeroing in on the calibration of an audio sound nor are they able to discriminate between voices sounded by different performers. If you are a parent and you don’t understand this, well, I am sorry for your kid.
Third, what Clash did. I am a gay man and I find relationships between adult gays and teens repulsive. Recently, 23 year-old at a supermarket I frequent became sexually provocative in his conversation with me (I am 60). I read him the riot act. However, there men AND teens who are into each other sexually. (There is a mentoring aspect, too, but I’ll leave that part out.) If the kid was over 18, big deal. And the fact is that the kid has MORE to gain than Clash, who wrote that he wanted to make the kid’s “dreams come true;” and I’ll conclude that this was not about fellatio but about the kid’s career. A relationship with the legendary Clash! How much closer can an aspirant get to greatness? It’s possible the kid didn’t get the job he wanted or the job fell through or the kid didn’t get promoted or what not. Frankly, I find all persons who work in kids’ entertainment weird (think about it!) and a ladder-climbing teen is pretty high up there on the weirdness scale. So he got pissed. Apparently he now retracts the part about his being underage. But the damage is done.
Gay sex and kids’ ent don’t mix. Too many bugaboos. So Peewee jacked off in a movie theatre. Nobody would have cared if he weren’t a kids’ performer. And look where his career went. Keep in mind that if this were all hetero, there’d be a different name for it: Alec Baldwin.
BTW, Clash is not a “gay man.” He may be known as homo in his industry but as anyone who watched his much-lauded biopic will note, he talks about his wife and daughter but never states he is queer. This is not gay, i.e,. prideful; this is homosexual. He acted stoopid by using office e-mail to conduct a sexcapade. Even Petraeus and other did it. But I have no sympathy for him.
Hero complexes all. Think they are so powerful, indispensible and all mighty that they are above the law. This is what happens when you think with your penis. As has been writ: The Penis Mightier Than the Sword.
Thank you and good-bye.
Kat
November 13th, 2012
8:34 pm
Without knowing that the charges had been dropped at the time, my thought was that this would be a good time to teach kids about “innocent until proven guilty.” I don’t think Sesame Street would use a different voice unless they HAD to. Reruns, reruns, reruns…but it would seem that Kevin Clash is back. Glad to hear that.
There goes the accuser’s gravy train though…
SOME GUY
November 13th, 2012
9:36 pm
How big was the check this perverted queer wrote to make this go away?
SAHM
November 13th, 2012
10:38 pm
I often wonder why celebrities don’t have their hookups sign NDA’s to prevent things like this from happening.
Elmo | NewsTrendr
November 14th, 2012
1:11 am
[...] Do you even mention to kids that Elmo voice may be different guy?Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog)No. Like all kids watching cartoons, they will figure it out for themselves. It is part of realizing that cartoons are not real, puppets are not alive, and all voices are real people who die/move on. To this day, I simply cannot watch any of the “later … [...]
Real Mom
November 14th, 2012
5:43 am
Let’s have a Momania column about lying. It seems to be the topic that needs to be covered.
Top School
November 14th, 2012
6:05 am
Momma needs to keep adult conversations out of reach of children. The puppet voice and the man behind the puppet are two different people ( a real person and a character )
Sounds like momma just wanted to stir something to get enough responses on her blog to keep up with Maureen at Get Schooled. Maybe you should lean over and ask her.
This is not a difficult question to answer yourself…
If your next door neighbor discloses that he or she is having an affair…do you sit your children down and explain to them what an affair is …and tell them it could happen in their family too …if mommy and daddy are not faithful. I would hope not.
The question you asked the readers on your blog ..is more or less baiting ignorant bigoted readers to make a comment bashing gays.
Your question is senseless to anyone with half a brain and raising another person’s children let alone your own.
Shameful attempt to gather responses to your blog.
Top School
November 14th, 2012
6:14 am
You should drop this story…and close your blog entries.
Your blog is in poor taste…
And anyone having a problem with a 10+ years difference in age… THIS HAPPENS ALL THE TIME IN STRAIGHT RELATIONSHIPS. An older man with a younger woman…and Older women with younger men.
Nobody had a problem with Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher.
Don’t make two consenting adult relationships into something perverted for your own pleasure.
Top School
November 14th, 2012
6:38 am
With all the news about honorable committed straight relationships and the infidelity involved. …maybe you should explain to your children how straight couples make a mockery of the institution of marriage.
It is scandalous news right now…so why not just draw out the map between the man his wife…two other women…and FBI agent. Maybe you could make sock puppets to help the children to understand. Don’t forget to include another sock puppet for the 911 call to keep someone from crossing over a very important person’s property. That way you can get in a lesson about calling 911 for the CHILDREN too.
And teach your children that they should be careful who uses the word “sweetheart” with them.
These are some additional topics you can stir your reader’s intellectual responses for future blogs.
Bisnono
November 14th, 2012
8:06 am
My baby has been watching Elmo since he was 6 months old. He LOVES Elmo. He hears Elmo’s song and immediately is calmed and comforted. WHY would I want to take that joy away from him???
Becky
November 14th, 2012
10:37 am
@scobby..Like you, I did not know that Lucas McCain was gay either..
@fockimeen..Did you read the part where it says.”.Clash, the 52 year old divorced father of a grown daughter, added, “I am a gay man. I have never been ashamed of this or tried to hide it, but felt it was a personal and private matter.”
Mo
November 14th, 2012
11:27 am
No need to tell the kids. They won’t notice. They’re preschoolers. My preschooler didn’t notice when Dora had a voice change! I noticed, but she didn’t.