You may remember yesterday when TMZ and others were reporting that Being Elmo‘s Kevin Clash was taking a leave of absence to deal with allegations that he’d had a sexual relationship with a kid when Clash was 45 and the accuser was 16. Clash had maintained the relationship occurred when both were adults, and now the accuser, who has still not been identified, has since recanted his story. Phew, good thing that’s out of the way before anyone’s reputation got ruined.
Andreozzi & Associates, a law firm that said it represented the accuser said in a statement that “he wants it to be known that his sexual relationship with Mr. Clash was an adult consensual relationship.” The statement added, “He will have no further comment on the matter.” [NYTimes]
Well sure, I can’t imagine anyone might have follow-up questions.
It’s unclear why the accuser suddenly changed his story … but sources close to the situation tell TMZ … the accuser’s attorney had been meeting with Clash’s attorney as recent as an hour ago, discussing a financial settlement and 6-figures were on the table. [TMZ]
Don’t tell me I’m the only one who imagined The Count counting each figure as it was laid on the table there. Now, granted I’m not a lawyer, but this isn’t how extortion usually works, is it? Anyway, move along, folks, nothing to see here. We can all sleep easier knowing that a 45-year-old puppeteer was blowing an 18-year-old, not a 16-year-old like some kind of perv.