Information on this has just started rolling in, but according to Brian Stelter of the New York Times, the man who accused Sesame Street’s Kevin Clash of engaging in a sexual relationship with him before he turned 18 has recanted.
The man who accused Kevin Clash (Elmo) of underage sexual conduct has RECANTED. His lawyer now says it was “adult consensual relationship.”
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) November 13, 2012
The accuser has remained anonymous. The recantation came in a statement via a law firm. The statement did not include an apology to Clash.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) November 13, 2012
Kevin Clash statement: “I am relieved that this painful allegation has been put to rest. I will not discuss it further.”
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) November 13, 2012
I don’t know exactly what to make of this just yet, but I do know that I didn’t like living in a world where Elmo was accused of sex crimes. Let’s chalk this one up as a positive, to the extent anything involving accusations of improper sexual behavior and someone’s reputation being dragged through the mud can end up being “positive.”
UPDATE: The NYT now has the full write-up, which points out that TMZ was the first outlet to run the story, and closes with this nice little shot to the ribs of the gossip site’s top banana:
Harvey Levin, the editor of TMZ, did not respond to a request for comment about its decision to run with the unproven allegations of underage sex.
Yup. That’s a burn.
