For Years Sesame Street educated and entertained youths across america. Generation after Generation has grown up, watching Elmo, Big Bird, Bert, Ernie and the rest of the puppets. Sesame Street recently got public attention when Mitt Romney said he would do away with Big Bird and the whole PBS station. But now they are making national news for a different reason.
Sesame Street Workshop says it found the allegation against Kevin Clash “unsubstantiated,” and granted him leave as he takes “actions to protect his reputation.”
In June, the workshop heard from a 23-year-old man who claimed that he had “a relationship” with Clash beginning when he was 16 years old, the workshop said in a written statement. The statement did not use the word “sexual.”
Then this statement was released: “We took the allegation very seriously and took immediate action. We met with the accuser twice and had repeated communications with him. We met with Kevin, who denied the accusation. We also conducted a thorough investigation and found the allegation of underage conduct to be unsubstantiated. Although this was a personal relationship unrelated to the workplace, our investigation did reveal that Kevin exercised poor judgment and violated company policy regarding internet usage and he was disciplined,” the Sesame Street Workshop statement said.
So you found his conduct to be poor judgement but found the underage conduct not true. Can we say cover up! Who do you think the public are boo boo the fool. He violated company policy regarding internet usage by contacting and communication with the young boy and he was disciplined. How? Did he lose pay? Did he not talk one episode? Do they really think this is the first time? Did we not just see what happened to Jerry Sandusky and Bernie Fine. Once one person comes forward it doesn’t take that long to find another victim.
To make matter worst when Mr. Clash was asked about this accusation, he released this statement. TMZ reported that Clash said his relationship with the accuser “was between two consenting adults and I am deeply saddened that he is trying to make it into something it was not.”
So when was this relationship? Because this all started when the boy was 16! He is not a consenting adult at that age furthermore, you have to think does Mr. Clash groom these young boys until they are of legal age. This is a black eye for a program that is all about kids. They need to make sure that this is an isolated incident and keep Mr. Clash away until all the facts are brought to light.
Sesame Street producers had this to say:
“Kevin insists that the allegation of underage conduct is false and defamatory and he is taking actions to protect his reputation. We have granted him a leave of absence to do so.
“Elmo is bigger than any one person and will continue to be an integral part of Sesame Street to engage, educate and inspire children around the world, as it has for 40 years.”
They are right Elmo is Bigger than just one person, but he is manned by just one. At what cost have we allowed this man to play a character so beloved by our children. 40 years is a long time to not have any answers!
So hold off on tickling Elmo Because he may just Tickle your kids back!
“Like” us on Facebook——-> MindBender Entertainment
Follow us on Twitter——–> @MindBenderEnt