Elmo too? Son of a bitch.

Nope, he's in the clear, the accuser recanted.

Apparently they did have a relationship, but the younger man was 18 when it started. Sesame Street Workshop investigated and found no wrongdoing.

TMZ ran with the story before it had been properly fact-checked, so now the Elmo guy has had his reputation smeared, wrongly.

Peter Urkowitz wrote:

Nope, he's in the clear, the accuser recanted.

Apparently they did have a relationship, but the younger man was 18 when it started. Sesame Street Workshop investigated and found no wrongdoing.

TMZ ran with the story before it had been properly fact-checked, so now the Elmo guy has had his reputation smeared, wrongly.

In the clear?

I agree false accusations like these are wrong, but do the math. And homophobia aside, which the accuser was exploiting, evil bastard. But this isn't a winning day for Kevin Clash. The guy is 52now, so he was in his late forties having a sexual relationship with an 18 year old? I can't imagine it's considered completely appropriate by Sesame Street or anyone involved with the show. It may be legal but this whole fiasco proves he wasn't using good judgment. It may not be fair but children's entertainers are held to a little higher standard. Ask Pee Wee Herman.

But these types of viscious accusations are damaging to real victims...
http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/therootdc/post/when-elmo-is-falsely-accused-of-child-abuse-real-victims-suffer/2012/11/15/022171d0-2f50-11e2-a30e-5ca76eeec857_blog.html

Right, it doesn't look good. He's only in the clear legally. As for his reputation, it's taken a hit, no question, just by having the words "child abuse" in the same sentence as his name. He didn't use good judgement, but there was never any child being abused in this situation, so it's wrong to tar him with that brush.

I agree, but I think it's a distinction that won't be that big a deal when it comes to public opinion. No one seemed to care that Monica Lewinski was 22 at the time she and Clinton had their affair. This accuser did his damage already, wrong or right, so many of the idiots in the US conflate homosexuality with pedofilia, as it is. Even if everyone that heard the accusation hears the retraction follow-up it won't matter.

"Hey guess what! That child I was accused of molesting, turns out he wasn't 17 or younger, he was 18, yippee! I'm not legally wrong here! Can I play with your kids again?"

A 48 year old, children's show puppeteer, having sex with an 18 year old may be legal, but still shows poor judgment, lack of character. And even though you're right it was an unfair public accusation, and even if every news source publishes the "good news" it doesn't make him look all that much better, it isn't a great moment, it's just another bad public moment for the guy. Just less bad than the first.

Quite a lot of self-destructive behavior in the news lately.

Yeah, I see your point, Joe.

Oh crap...

http://abcnews.go.com/US/elmo-actor-kevin-clash-resigns-sesame-street-amid/story?id=17768832

Oh crap is right!

Damn, you were really right, Joe. I am embarrassed to admit that I never saw this part of the story coming, although it should have been predictable by now.

Shoot.

What are the odds that we haven't heard the end of the Petraeus scandal, too?

Peter Urkowitz wrote:

Damn, you were really right, Joe. I am embarrassed to admit that I never saw this part of the story coming, although it should have been predictable by now.

No, no, gosh no. I hadn't meant to say anything like that, or even expected there was more to be revealed. But like you said, it should have been predictable. Given his admitting to so many bad judgement calls already.

Originally, I had only meant to say that despite the illegal accusations being dropped, that he had probably done enough to damage his career with the bad decisions he admitted to.

Peter Urkowitz wrote:

What are the odds that we haven't heard the end of the Petraeus scandal, too?

I don't know how much more could possibly be revealed. I heard on one show there was a twin sister subplot or something too? Crazy.

Hmm, I guess the next shoe to drop for Petraeus would be to find out that he really did compromise national security in some way, spilling secrets or failing to carry out needed duties. Or to reveal other affairs, going on while he was still in the war zones. Those seem to be the moral boundaries that have not been crossed yet, lending some small comfort to the general's former fans. So to find those lines being crossed, that would hurt even worse.

I hope those lines don't get crossed. But at this point, it would be foolhardy to insist that they CAN'T be crossed.

“On Nov. 12, the FBI searched her home in Charlotte and carried away additional evidence that she had classified documents, law enforcement officials said.”

http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/2012/11/26/kincaid-post-finally-digs-into-growing-petraeus-scandal/

Yeah, that kind of thing, though that particular article doesn't give any details, just general insinuations. But worse is probably yet to come.