As many of you may know there was a current scandal regarding the maker of Elmo, Kevin Clash. A man, Sheldon Stephens (24) surfaced just a week ago accusing Clash of having sex with him when he was a minor. Parents were in disbelief, some who automatically believed the accusations and others who wanted to see facts before deciding to continue on supporting Elmo products.
Now Clash who is a gay man does confirm that he had sex with Stephens, but it was a consensual adult relationship when the man was 18-years of age not 16. I for one like to see evidence and once Stephens had recanted his statement stating that it was in fact a consensual adult relationship I thought “okay thankfully I didn’t jump on the bandwagon like everyone else.” Then I got to thinking, imagine if such allegations were true? What would that do to the whole Sesame Street franchise!? Parents would boycott all Elmo toys and even stop watching. That’s when it clicked, “I bet Stephens got paid with some hush-hush money.”
Not even more than a week later and now Stephens wants to recant his recantation. Besides there being email evidence of Clash using the Sesame Street email to speak to his “lover” there is yet to be any evidence showing that Stephens was in fact under 18 years of age. The Daily Beast shows the emails that were written by Clash–
-“I’m sorry that I keep talking about sex with you, it’s driving me insane,”
-“I want you to know that I love you and I will never hurt you. I’m here to protect you and make sure your dreams come true.”
Those two emails alone say a lot in my opinion. Why are you apologizing for talking about sex? Everyone talks about it! And it shouldn’t be wrong if you’re talking about it with an adult. And what dreams are you specifically making come true? Fishy yes, but no way a confirmation of guilt. However, what may prove some guilt is that Clash paid Stephens $125,000 settlement along with Stephens having to release a statement that his accusations were untrue. Why pay a man who lied?
What ticks me off about people is that years later they want to come “clean” to such sexual abuse. Sexual abuse is wrong without a doubt, but at the age of 16, 17 boy or girl they know what they’re doing and can very much consent to sexual acts. Now Stephens a “model” wants to ruin a reputation, for what purpose? So you can have your 15 minutes of fame since your career is going nowhere? You be the judge…
All I know is Ziana will grow up not knowing who Elmo is or what Sesame Street is.
UPDATE**
11:12 AM
Another person, Cecil Singleton (32), has surfaced stating that Clash had sex with him too when he was a minor when they met years ago during a gay telephone chat line. The reason he is now coming forth is because he didn’t realize the psychological effects from it until 2012. Hmmm…
11:29AM
This story just keeps getting more crazy! According to TMZ Clash resigned due to the 2nd allegation that just surfaced this morning. Sesame Workshop says, “Unfortunately, the controversy surrounding Kevin’s personal life has become a distraction that none of us want, 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.”
