Slog
News & ArtsTuesday, November 13, 2012
TV Elmo Sex Accuser Recants Story
Posted by Paul Constant on Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 2:40 PM
The man who accused Kevin Clash, the voice and puppeteer of the “Sesame Street” character Elmo, of an underage sexual relationship has recanted that claim, his lawyer said on Tuesday. The reversal came a day after the claim was first published by the gossip Web site TMZ...Mr. Clash said through a spokeswoman: “I am relieved that this painful allegation has been put to rest. I will not discuss it further.”
3
I can't imagine that it's not the case, but the one thing I wanted when the allegation came out and still want now that it has been recanted, is most likely what the Sesame Workshop wants, which is an announcement that, whatever actually did happen, happened far away from the children's show and that only Kevin Clash has ties to Sesame Street.
5
Why social media continue to use the word "underage" when even in the original story the guy was 18 and the age of consent in New York is 17 anyway.
It is like just a hint or allegation of this stuff even when no law has been broken is enough to send people into a frenzy...
It is like just a hint or allegation of this stuff even when no law has been broken is enough to send people into a frenzy...
9
I'm also seeing this as a major improvement. This wouldn't be newsworthy at all if it weren't for the charges of underage fucking. Now it's just sex between consenting adults.
10
@9 - Sure, but now One Million Moms are going to throw a tantrum that a gay man is allowed to talk to children with a puppet. They will stamp their mom-feet and furrow their mom-brows and hiss about Christian values and stuff. It'll be epic, sure to take down Sesame Street forever.
11
I fail to see how this is "worse", unless you're talking about how the culture of accusations has turned into a dangerous game with people making false claims in an attempt to seek attention or destroy someone's life.
12
That is not "worse"...anyone who has a kid who grew up on Elmo knows that having Kevin Clash's name cleared of something is illegal is not "worse," it's "better". The only thing I'm worried about is the backlash from certain parts of our country now that they know he's gay. But on the plus side--one more ultra cool person the gay team can claim.
13
@10 Why you hating on all the moms?
I'd bet the backlash, if any, will come from the mouths of men.
I'd bet the backlash, if any, will come from the mouths of men.
15
@13 You clearly haven't been introduced to the horror show that is One Million Moms. Do some Googling.
18
@5: The original allegation was that the relationship began when the young man was 15 years old, which is definitely "underage".
19
Well in any case, there's certainly a lot of memetic-style damage here.
I wonder if some day the technology would be sophisticated enough to backtrack the chain of aspersions and make each and everyone who contributed on the web liable in some kind of reverse class action lawsuit, where a single person essentially sues a group because of harm.
20
@19: We have something like that. If people are making fun of you, just backtrace them and report it to the cyber police.
21
The accuser's identity isn't known. I have to wonder, if "he" was a "she" if the accuser wouldn't have been tracked down and lambasted by now. Even on Slog, "she" would certainly have been called a lying, exploitive slut by comment 20 of this thread, even if her accusations had merit. But a male accuser whose accusations are false gets treated with kid gloves in comparison.
22
One Million Moms:
http://onemillionmoms.com/
Sign up to get their newsletter so that you can write supportive letters to the organizations they're targeting. Oh, and if they target a business for boycott, that's where you can spend a little extra money.
http://onemillionmoms.com/
Sign up to get their newsletter so that you can write supportive letters to the organizations they're targeting. Oh, and if they target a business for boycott, that's where you can spend a little extra money.
23
Arsenio Hall (remember him?) used to do a routine called "Things That Make You Go 'Hmmm...'". Follow:
If you keep up with news from the UK, the BBC is currently in deep shit over revelations that one of their high-profile DJs/children's show hosts/British eccentrics, Jimmy Savile, was apparently a serial and aggressive pedophile with a taste for pubescent girls (and a secondary taste for boys of a similar age.) Hmmm...
The right wing in the UK (with plenty of support from commercial operators like Rupert Murdoch) has been agitating for decades to have the BBC defunded and/or privatized. Hmmm...
Some of the most right-wing media in the UK have been blaring headlines about other alleged pedophiles in the BBC (most if not all previously closeted gay men who are conveniently dead and can't sue for libel.) Hmmm...
Back in the USA, our right wing has been agitating for decades to defund or privatize public broadcasting (well past the extent that it's been privatized already.) Hmmm...
Kevin Clash (thanks to that documentary) is one of the more high-profile performers on public television. Hmmm...
You know the habit American television has of adapting or copying British TV series and usually fucking the process up royally? I can't help but wonder if we've just seen the same thing in real life.
Hmmm...
If you keep up with news from the UK, the BBC is currently in deep shit over revelations that one of their high-profile DJs/children's show hosts/British eccentrics, Jimmy Savile, was apparently a serial and aggressive pedophile with a taste for pubescent girls (and a secondary taste for boys of a similar age.) Hmmm...
The right wing in the UK (with plenty of support from commercial operators like Rupert Murdoch) has been agitating for decades to have the BBC defunded and/or privatized. Hmmm...
Some of the most right-wing media in the UK have been blaring headlines about other alleged pedophiles in the BBC (most if not all previously closeted gay men who are conveniently dead and can't sue for libel.) Hmmm...
Back in the USA, our right wing has been agitating for decades to defund or privatize public broadcasting (well past the extent that it's been privatized already.) Hmmm...
Kevin Clash (thanks to that documentary) is one of the more high-profile performers on public television. Hmmm...
You know the habit American television has of adapting or copying British TV series and usually fucking the process up royally? I can't help but wonder if we've just seen the same thing in real life.
Hmmm...
24
@22 - Careful, some of those organizations have been known to re-re-write your re-written letters if they catch you saying something they disapprove of.
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