The 23-year-old man who accused puppeteer Kevin Clash, the voice of Elmo, of having sex with him when he was 16 has recanted that allegation.
New York Times reporter Brian Stelter is reporting via Twitter and newyorktimes.com that the man admitted the relationship was between consenting adults.
The recantation was issued in a statement from a law firm, according to Stelter.
Stelter also tweeted a statement from Clash: "I am relieved that this painful allegation has been put to rest. I will not discuss it further."
The accuser claimed that he and Clash, who was raised in the Turner Station community of Baltimore County, had a sexual relationship seven years ago when he was 16 and Clash was 45.
Though Sesame Workshop, the producer of Sesame Street, home of the iconic muppets of which Elmo is one, said it found the man's claims to be unsubstantiated, the organization granted Clash a leave of absence so he could work to clear his name.
TMZ broke the story about the allegations of Monday.
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We don't give this anonymity to murder victims, break-in victims, etc. Why have we given anonymity in this one case? Yes, supposedly the crimes are heinous to 'most' but the anonymity is still troubling for the reasons above.
Anytime someone recants sexual assault or child sexual abuse allegations, that is the first thing that comes out of the peanut gallery, that those people were 'threatened' in order to drop the allegations. They don't seem to be able to contemplate that yes, people and even children do make false allegations of sexual assault and child sexual abuse. Children are not as 'ignorant' of sexual things as they were in the 1700's today, if they were even ignorant of them back then. My own cousin knew what sex was at 6 and when I asked her where she learned the details from, she went in my aunt's bedroom and got out the book she used to teach her older daughter about sex and said that she had overheard numerous older children talking about it in school and elsewhere.
Add in the numerous years between the accusations? Looks less credible still. As I told my children: If someone sexually assaults you or forces you into sex, IMMEDIATELY tell an adult so that we can get some physical evidence that you are telling the truth. Real world, people do lie about being sexually assaulted in order to get revenge on someone or, as in the case of the Duke accuser, to direct attention away from an ill that they committed.
If I had been sexually assaulted by someone, I would not want to touch their dirty money with a 2000 foot pole. When a person makes allegations like this and then, during or even after the criminal case, files a civil lawsuit? It makes their allegations look very non-credible.