Good news for Elmo fans. The young man who claims he had underage sex with Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash has recanted his story. Now he says his affair with Clash was "an adult consensual relationship." He has dropped his case. The announcement came this afternoon after meetings between the respective parties' lawyers.
Kevin Clash says, "I am relieved that this painful accusation has been put to rest. I will not discuss it further." And I can't blame the guy. I wouldn't want to discuss it, either. Sesame Workshop has backed up their puppeteer, though they did put Clash on leave during the scandal. So now the question is, will Clash return to Sesame Street? Or was the sex scandal, even if it was false, too damaging to Clash's image?
Sesame Workshop hasn't said whether Clash will return to the show. They only said, "We are pleased that this matter has been brought to a close, and we are happy that Kevin can move on from this unfortunate episode." But TMZ says the case was dropped soon after lawyers for the respective parties met this afternoon. Sources tell them a six-figure settlement was on the table. But that doesn't mean Clash paid hush money -- that's just a rumor.
And now we see how this thing is going to haunt Clash forever. Even though his accuser has dropped his case, there will always be lingering doubts. It's nearly impossible to recover completely from a scandal like this.
I want to believe the accusations were false. It's just too awful to think that a man who brought so much joy to so many kids could take advantage of a teenage boy. We'll never know. And I hate that. Meanwhile, parents everywhere wait to see if Elmo will return to Sesame Street -- with or without his creator.
Do you think the dropped charges really mean that the accusations were false?
Image via AGeekMom/Flickr
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Comments 6
In this case, I absolutely do. If Clash did something wrong, I think this person would have continued to fight and would want his voice heard. I'm sure Clash wanted this to go away because he doesn't want his personal sex life in the news for the next two years. I have had a feeling the whole time that this person was just out to make an easy buck. Maybe he is angry at Clash and wanted to get back at him. It's just really fishy to me that Sesame Street asked for any evidence and the guy could never produce any. Then all of a sudden once he is lawyered up, he comes up with some email where Clash admits to the underage relationship. Now the guy is saying it was an adult relationship the whole time. I don't think I could state a lie if someone really hurt me like that. I would want them prosecuted.
Apart from that, Elmo will be back on Sesame Street whether Clash returns or not. As their statement said, Elmo is bigger than any one person, so he will continue on. It's not like all of the characters have their original voices - many puppets have changed voices several times. Obviously all the puppets that Jim Henson voiced at one time had to get new voice actors. I do hope that this doesn't ruin Clash's career.