Turner Station native Kevin Clash has resigned from Sesame Street, bringing to an end his long tenure as the voice, personality and heart of the iconic muppet Elmo.
His resignation comes in the aftermath of allegations that he had an underage sexual relationship with Sheldon Stephens, who initially claimed the relationship occurred when he was just 16.
Sesame Workshop issued the following statement on its blog:
Sesame Workshop’s mission is to harness the educational power of media to help all children the world over reach their highest potential. Kevin Clash has helped us achieve that mission for 28 years, and none of us, especially Kevin, want anything to divert our attention from our focus on serving as a leading educational organization. Unfortunately, the controversy surrounding Kevin’s personal life has become a distraction that none of us wants, and he has concluded that he can no longer be effective in his job and has resigned from Sesame Street. This is a sad day for Sesame Street.
The allegations of sexual misconduct were first made by an unidentified accuser on Nov. 12.
The next day, the alleged victim recanted his story and said it was instead a relationship between consenting adults.
On Nov. 14, The Smoking Gun website identified the accuser as Stephens, and cited a checkered past that included a reckless driving conviction, accusations of armed robbery and passing a bad check—the charges for which were dropped when Stephens made good on the debt.
The original accusation, made on the website TMZ, effectively outed Clash as gay.
“I have never been ashamed of this or tried to hide it, but felt it was a personal and private matter,” he said of his sexuality in a statement he issued last week.
While Clash will no longer be the voice of Elmo, production of Sesame Street has not been affected by Clash's resignation, according to the New York Times.
The paper reports that Clash helped identify puppeteers who could take over his duties during his absence, and who could "play Elmo for some time."
Clash, 52, is a Turner Station native and a 1979 graduate of Dundalk High School.
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Predator is now creeping into the life of Clash.
5 charged in alleged teacher-student relationships at New Jersey high school http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/04/us/new-jersey-school-sex-arrests/index.html 4 teachers arrested; accused of having sex with a student http://www.news4jax.com/news/4-teachers-arrested-accused-of-having-sex-with-a-student/-/475880/17480844/-/s7rvu9/-/index.html New Jersey 'Teacher Of The Year' Arrested For Sexual Assault; Erica DePalo 'Eccentric,' Student Says http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/05/teacher-of-the-year-sexual-assault_n_1857467.html Need more?
Two teachers were arrested for sex-related offenses, Montgomery County Police said Monday. (Maryland) www.wjla.com/articles/2012/05/two-montgomery-county-teachers-arrested-for-sex-offenses--75713.html#ixzz2Cn0lefPO
We all see your sad (and continued) little troll attempt that hooked Jennifer. Hundreds of thousands of teachers, and a handful IN HIGH SCHOOL have relationships with 16+ year olds and all of a sudden we get this "fit right in with all the molester teachers". I only wish I could have been 'molested' by one of my (few) hot high school teachers back in the day. I know somehow I'd have managed to work through all of the 'trauma' that would have caused me...
I wouldn't necessarily have to defend them. Subtle difference.
I personally know quite a few people who have admitted to doing that (no, PO, I will NOT tell you who they are so that you can harass them, so go move on) or to having had sex with adults as children and teenagers and yet.... no harm from it in the slightest. I also know people who have said that there was harm from that but when you get down to brass tacks and press on some tender issues that most gloss over? The 'harm' isn't coming from the relationships themselves but from the brainwashing by the police that those people had done on them and the pressure put on them to 'testify' against their 'abuser' by parents and others.
Sonia
Good luck. You have your hands full.
Alledgedly. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/elmo_accuser_is_tyke_three_VTYhR5fA3tfd0iaQgiluaK