Slog
News & ArtsTuesday, November 20, 2012
TV Elmo No More
Posted by Paul Constant on Tue, Nov 20, 2012 at 12:20 PM
The New York Times reported this morning:
Kevin Clash, the longtime voice and puppeteer behind Sesame Street’s Elmo character, has resigned in the aftermath of allegations that he had underage sexual relationships.
Mr. Clash was first accused last week of sexual improprieties by a 24-year-old man who later recanted. That man has remained anonymous.
On Tuesday, the gossip Web site TMZ reported that a second accuser, Cecil Singleton, has now filed a lawsuit in New York alleging that he had an underage sexual relationship with Mr. Clash almost a decade ago. The report could not immediately be verified.
What an awful story this is.
1
I was once molested by a giant orange puppet ... oh wait, no, sorry that was Speaker Boehner.
Never mind.
Never mind.
3
Wait, so if I make and recant sexual allegations, I can ruin a career without even having to go fully public? Nice. Someone get me a list of GOP leadership and the press on the phone.
8
@5 - You were still wrong; the anonymous accuser recanted. Anyway, the jokes all got worn out days ago, welcome to the party, slowpoke.
12
It is sad that Elmo the character is the front and center of all this. Yes his voice and creator have a huge wave of allegations that need to be addressed but it is Mr. Clash that has to deal with this not "The Voice of Elmo".
Elmo is a character that many children positively respond to. A character that is educational and positive as where Mr. Clash is unknown to almost everyone until this situation. There should be a separation between Elmo and Mr. Clash as soon as possible and Elmo should not be hurt by this but Mr. Clash should just move away from Sesame Street and never look back.
Elmo is a character that many children positively respond to. A character that is educational and positive as where Mr. Clash is unknown to almost everyone until this situation. There should be a separation between Elmo and Mr. Clash as soon as possible and Elmo should not be hurt by this but Mr. Clash should just move away from Sesame Street and never look back.
13
"Tickle me, Elmo" ? Really, Amy? What the fuck did you expect? Keep robbing America's children of their God-given right to fantasize and you'll simply increase the supply of Romney-Ryan booble-heads who have their own fantasies about how to run this country. Should they succeed, I suspect it'll be a lot worse than man-on-boy sex.
14
"What an awful story this is."
Then howzabout you quit wringing your hands and clutching your pearls (alternately) and actually dig into it?
I posted on this the first time around, but maybe I was too cute for the room, so I'll try it again: Anybody following the news out of the UK knows that the BBC, their public broadcaster, is being hammered over allegations that longtime DJ and kids' show host Jimmy Savile was a pedophile rapist of both girls and boys. The rightwing tabloids have been throwing up more allegations against other BBC personalities every few days - all of them gay, closeted and/or conveniently dead.
How big a coincidence is it that one of the better-known performers on public broadcasting in the US (and a previously-closeted gay man) is now getting similar accusations, a few weeks after the rightwing candidate for President targeted his show as an example of defunding public broadcasting?
I'm not much for conspiracy theories, but something about this really stinks. And it would be nice if a heavily gay-oriented newspaper with a Pulitzer to its credit and an activist as its editorial director did something other than go 'aw, damn.'
Then howzabout you quit wringing your hands and clutching your pearls (alternately) and actually dig into it?
I posted on this the first time around, but maybe I was too cute for the room, so I'll try it again: Anybody following the news out of the UK knows that the BBC, their public broadcaster, is being hammered over allegations that longtime DJ and kids' show host Jimmy Savile was a pedophile rapist of both girls and boys. The rightwing tabloids have been throwing up more allegations against other BBC personalities every few days - all of them gay, closeted and/or conveniently dead.
How big a coincidence is it that one of the better-known performers on public broadcasting in the US (and a previously-closeted gay man) is now getting similar accusations, a few weeks after the rightwing candidate for President targeted his show as an example of defunding public broadcasting?
I'm not much for conspiracy theories, but something about this really stinks. And it would be nice if a heavily gay-oriented newspaper with a Pulitzer to its credit and an activist as its editorial director did something other than go 'aw, damn.'
17
One lawsuit filed; two more waiting in the wings as of this morning. Nope, I'm not going to judge him without a trial, but it sure looks like he's a scumbag.
18
@17: Any source on the "two waiting in the wings"? 'Cause Google News sure hasn't discovered it after 12 hours.
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