Tickle This Elmo … Kevin Clash, the Voice of Sesame Street’s Elmo Accused of Having ‘Sexual Relationship with Underage Boy (Update: Accuser Recants Allegations)

Today’s story is brought to you by the letter “E” and the number “16″.

Move over Big Bird, you are yesterday’s news. It looks like Elmo is in the news front and center. 54 year old Kevin Clash, the voice of Elmo of Sesame Street fame and the Children’s Television Workshop, is being accused of having a sexual relationship with a 16 year old boy. The individual bringing forth the charges is now 23. Elmo [Kevin Clash] admitted having a relationship with the accuser; however, Clash stated that it was not until the individual was an adult. Clash is denying the allegations of sex with an underage boy; however, he is taking a leave of absence from Sesame Street.

The man who voices the puppet of Elmo on Sesame Street has taken leave amid allegations he had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old boy.   Kevin Clash, 52, has taken a leave of absence from the popular children’s show after the programme’s lawyers were contacted by a 23-year-old man who claims he had a sexual relationship with the puppeteer seven years ago, when he was aged 16.

TMZ, who reported the allegations, said that Mr Clash had admitted he had a relationship with the man, but only after the accuser was an adult and said the accusations were both false and defamatory.

Statement from Kevin Clash:

Kevin Clash has issued a statement saying,”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 had a relationship with the accuser. 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. I am taking a break from Sesame Workshop to deal with this false and defamatory allegation.”

 UPDATE I: Accuser recants allegations.

The anonomous individual who had made allegations against Elmo, now says that the relationship was consensual. That was a rather quick reversal of fortune. However, how does one really totally gain their reputation back after such a slanderous allegation? One would have thought that the law firn that that represented the now 24 year old man would have done more due dilligence. After all, they were the same firm that represented a victim in the Jerry Sandusky case.

The man who accused Kevin Clash, the voice and puppeteer of the “Sesame Street” character Elmo, of an under-age sexual relationship has recanted that claim, his lawyer said on Tuesday.

The reversal came a day after the claim was published by the gossip Web site TMZ, threatening Mr. Clash’s reputation and alarming parents and other fans of the beloved children’s television franchise.