Kevin Clash's problem

  • stake n sheak
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    • 6 months 29 days ago
    • Posts: 2265
    		 The long-time puppeteer of Elmo on Sesame Street, subject of the inspiring and heart-warming documentary/biopic Being Elmo has resigned amid allegations of sex with teenagers.

    The first accuser, who has not been publicly identified (although there is some speculation as to his identity), withdrew his accusation the day after he made it, but has now stated he was pressured into doing so. He claimed he was 17 at the time of the events. (He is now 24. That is what I initially heard. However, I am now seeing sources state he was 16 and is now 23. I find this very odd.)

    Another accuser, also now an adult, has come forward, stating he was 15 when he engaged in some kind of sexual relations with Clash, who is 52 years old.

    I watched Being Elmo a few months ago. So when I heard about this on the news a couple of weeks ago, my heart sank. "Oh, no..." I said aloud. My girlfriend was not paying close attention to the TV and when she saw Clash on the screen, said "hey, wrong picture!" ...

    It seems now that the accusations are in fact true. Even if they are not quite (if one was actually 18, when he was 44) Clash must have acted unwisely for things to go as they have gone. I don't believe he is a pedophile. Age discrepancies are more commonly accepted among the gay community than outside of it, but he made a real mistake this way.

    So. Now he has resigned, citing negative attention on him and its bad effect on Sesame Street.

    Kevin Clash wrote:
    I am resigning from Sesame Workshop with a very heavy heart. I have loved every day of my 28 years working for this exceptional organization. Personal matters have diverted attention away from the important work Sesame Street is doing and I cannot allow it to go on any longer. I am deeply sorry to be leaving and am looking forward to resolving these personal matters privately.


    From his first statement after the initial story broke:
    wrote:
    I have never been ashamed of this or tried to hide it, but felt it was a personal and private matter.


    I feel bad for him, but it's clear he did do what they say he did.
    tangspot2 wrote:
    Mrs. stake you say some nasty on my threads. Dirty bitch
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  • blueluigi22
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    • 6 months 29 days ago
    • Posts: 66
    		 I got to say, that is quite a sad story... and hard to believe that Clash himself really went to that level.

    And if he's leaving Sesame Street, then I wonder who will play Elmo now?
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  • stake n sheak
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    • 6 months 29 days ago
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    		 As much as I like Clash as a person, Elmo is annoying as shit. I wouldn't mind if he just goes away :lol:
    I don't watch the show, but when I have seen it recently, say in the doctor's waiting room, my goodness is Elmo grating!
    tangspot2 wrote:
    Mrs. stake you say some nasty on my threads. Dirty bitch
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  • eddstarr88
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    • 6 months 28 days ago
    • Posts: 13319
    		 Entertainers, or maybe creative people in general, are unique as individuals - to be politically correct about this, lol. But this whole drama just seems weird to me. Like Kevin, Elmo's time has passed, imho.
    The Eldorado is dead. Long live the Eldorado.
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  • blueluigi22
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    • 6 months 28 days ago
    • Posts: 66
    		 Yeah... I hate to burst your bubble, but Elmo's not going away anytime soon. The reason being... he's just too profitable to be leaving Sesame Street. He's already surpassed some of the other muppets in terms of popularity. The only way I see Sesame Workshop getting rid of Elmo is if another character takes up the popularity. Even then, I don't think the producers would want Elmo to go away if that were to happen.
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  • stake n sheak
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    • 6 months 28 days ago
    • Posts: 2265
    		 Oh, I know that. But who will play Elmo now, I have no idea. The puppeteers (muppeteers?) rarely get any recognition, once you get after the people who started the whole thing with Jim Henson. Probably somebody nobody except the weirdest fanboys has ever heard of.
    tangspot2 wrote:
    Mrs. stake you say some nasty on my threads. Dirty bitch
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  • mikebennidict
    • 6 months 28 days ago
    • Posts: 447
    mikebennidict wrote:
    Unfortunatly this is not the first time SS has had someone subject to a scandal.

    Years before SS Will Lee the actor who played Mr. Hooper from its first year in 1969 till his passing in 1982 was blackballed as a communist sympathizer by Senator McCarty and Northern Calloway, who was Daivd, Mr. Hooper's assistant had some mental breakdown in Nashville Tennessee in 1980 and went on a rampage there. The 2002 publication "Street Gang The Complete history of Sesame Street," mentions it and the dying of Stomache cancer is false.


    While we can't expact those even who work in children;s TV to be perfect, at the same time it just seems so much for unfortunate. I guess we just have to remember them for there acomplishments and just think about that.
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  • bassman21 User is online now
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    • 6 months 28 days ago
    • Posts: 12840
    		 I still have doubts that any of this is true. When things like this go public there are a lot of attention seekers what will say anything to get noticed. Unfortunately there is usually no way to prove weather or not accusations like these are true without witnesses. The other way would be if they could identify something on his body that no one else would know. Even if they're not true his reputation is ruined where he can't continue playing the character.
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  • stake n sheak
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    • 6 months 20 days ago
    • Posts: 2265
    		 I also had some doubts. But he doesn't deny what they said. His only response has been that this should be a private matter. A noble but pretty apparently guilty handling of the situation. Like you say his reputation is ruined anyway.

    I've been watching Dinosaurs on netflix lately. I noticed his name in the credits and suddenly realized that the baby's voice is the same as Elmo's voice. The baby is obnoxious and I think intentionally annoying. In a funny way. But there is nothing humorous about Elmo.
    tangspot2 wrote:
    Mrs. stake you say some nasty on my threads. Dirty bitch
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  • eddstarr88
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    • 6 months 20 days ago
    • Posts: 13319
    		 This all just makes my skin crawl. If we really have reached the point at which Sesame Street characters are "too big to get rid of" then I'm glad to have been a kid in the world before the Children's Television Workshop.
    The Eldorado is dead. Long live the Eldorado.
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