Elmo Resigns as Second Accuser Alleges Online-Chat Abuse
Amidst a new wave of sexual-abuse allegations, Kevin Clash, the man who voices and operates the Elmo puppet, abruptly resigned from Sesame Street late Tuesday morning. Just as his initial accuser was recanting his recant, a second man has come forward, accusing Clash of engaging him in online chat rooms when he was underage. In a statement, the Sesame Workshop said that the controversy "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."
RELATED: 'Elmo' Might Have Had a 16-Year-Old Boyfriend
There had been some back-and-forth over whether Clash's first accuser was of legal age during the time of his alleged abuse, but according to the latest update from TMZ, this second accuser, 24-year-old Cecil Singleton, alleges crimes in 2003, which would have made him 15 years old at the time. Singleton claims that Clash frequented "gay telephone chat line rooms to meet and have sex with underage boys."
RELATED: Elmo Can Go Back to Being Sweet and Innocent Again
We'll update this post as more details of the suit trickle in, but things are once again not looking up for Clash's reputation. It's also going to be hard to look at LOL Elmo the same way we might have this Black Friday.
