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Kevin Clash, the voice of Elmo on ‘Sesame Street,’ accused of **noallow** with teen boy, says relationship was later – between ‘two consenting adults’
It’s not a sunny day on “Sesame Street,” as the show revealed Monday that the puppeteer behind Elmo has been accused of having a sexual relationship with an underage boy.
“In June of this year, Sesame Workshop received a communication from a then 23-year-old man who alleged that he had a relationship beginning when he was 16 years old with Kevin Clash,” reps for the show said in a statement.
Clash, 52, who has been Elmo’s Muppeteer since 1984, adamantly maintains the accusation is false, but the show was forced to investigate.
Says Clash, according to TMZ, "I had a relationship with [the accuser]. It was between two consenting adults and I am deeply saddened that he is trying to make it into something it was not."
“We took the allegation very seriously and took immediate action,” Sesame Workshop said in the statement. “We met with the accuser twice and had repeated communications with him. We met with Kevin, who denied the accusation. We also conducted a thorough investigation and found the allegation of underage conduct to be unsubstantiated.”
While the show’s probe was unable to find proof that Clash had engaged in a relationship with the accuser while he was a minor, it did find evidence that the man behind one of the most beloved children’s television characters had engaged in inappropriate behavior against company standards.
“Although this was a personal relationship unrelated to the workplace, our investigation did reveal that Kevin exercised poor judgment and violated company policy regarding internet usage and he was disciplined,” Sesame Workshop said.
In light of the incident, Clash will be moving away from Sesame Street for the foreseeable future.
“Kevin insists that the allegation of underage conduct is false and defamatory and he is taking actions to protect his reputation,” the Workshop noted. “We have granted him a leave of absence to do so.”
Clash has won numerous Emmy awards for his work as Elmo over the last 28 years, and gained national attention when he was featured in in the award-winning 2011 documentary “Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey,” which chronicles how he got to Sesame Street and turned the red puppet into an icon.
Though Elmo has existed since 1979, Clash – who was the third person to take a crack at voicing the puppet – is widely credited with making the character as popular as he is today.
Sesame Workshop tried to reassure fans that the shocking news didn’t mean the end of Elmo, telling viewers, “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.”
