He Wrote The Music, He Wrote the Words

Kevin Clash, the man behind Elmo for almost thirty years, was caught in a bit of a dust up this week. As soon as it cropped up however, it quickly disappeared.

He was apparently accused of having a sexual relationship with a man when he was sixteen. See those two words right there. The two that immediately tell the story? "when he." So first off it reveals that Kevin is gay. That isn't a problem nor should it be a revelation. He's been open for the most part for a while. It also reveals however, that his occurred some time ago. It in fact occurred seven years ago. The accuser came to Sesame Workshop (and we'll get back to that) in June with the allegations and through investigation they found Kevin to really not do anything other than improperly use the internet. It's unclear if their "policy" applies to internet use on their facilities or a blanket "code of conduct" policy that applies outside of the job. Either way, they dealt with it internally and disciplined Kevin accordingly. That didn't stop the accuser from going public however, and that led Kevin to temporarily leave production of the show to defend his good name. Now he was probably told to leave to protect Sesame Workshop from scores of "WHY DOES HE STILL WORK FOR YOU!" nuts making a big deal out of it. In any case, it wasn't looking good for him. But my how the tables turn.

For one thing, this looked a bit suspicious from the jump. The accuser went to Sesame Workshop, not the police. Why? How would Sesame Workshop properly punish Kevin for the crime you're accusing him of? They wouldn't. They'd fire him and you'd get the satisfaction of knowing you ruined his career. Strike 1.

Second of all, seven years? You wait seven years to reveal this? Why so long? I understand that in some situations people are scared to come out with something like this out of fear for retaliation from the accused or supporters of the accused. But coupling this with going to his place of work puts the wait under severe scrutiny. Strike 2.

And before strike 3 could fall, the accuser has now recanted his story. It is unclear if this was because he knew this was going to be revealed as bull or if he was offered a crap ton of money, but boy was that fast. Kevin did admit that he had a relationship with him, but it was after he had reached the age of consent. Hopefully now, he'll get back to work and that this will fade away as nothing more that scorn from a relationship gone sour (that's my theory, anyway). It was so quick and Sesame Workshop had pretty much said that they agreed with Kevin, that Elmo's reputation won't be adversely affected as they go along. Good for him.

J out.