Elmo in Seattle.
Photo: Kathy Bugajsky
This isn’t THAT shocking…the voice and hand behind beloved Sesame Street character Elmo, puppeteer Kevin Clash is gay, which is cool, but he’s also involved in an emerging scandale…a 23 year old man is accusing Clash of starting a relationship with him when the accuser was only 16 years old. Clash is now 52 so there’s nearly a thirty year age gap between the two men. The age of consent in New York state is 17.
Cue the Count’s evil cackle….”Check their birth certificate before no no time! SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD! BOOHAHA!”
Clash has denied that the relationship started when the accuser was 16 but admits that he was involved with the man. He is on a leave of absence from the the iconic children’s television series to fight the charges. The Children’s Television Workshop, the producers of Sesame Street released a statement earlier today.
From the Washington Post:
“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.
Clash is divorced and the father of a now grown daughter but has now stated: “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.”
Other puppeteers will fill in for Clash while on leave of absence though it hasn’t been confirmed if others will voice Clash’s most famous character, Elmo during this time.
This is the second time this year that Sesame Street has been front page news. During the first presidential debate in October, Republican candidate Mitt Romney vowed to cut funding to PBS and specifically mentioned Sesame Street in his remarks. This led to considerable outrage from supporters of PBS and fans of Sesame Street in particular.
Sesame Street is now sponsored by the letter “T”….for Topical, Trending and Teenagers are Totally Taboo!
