Salacious details emerged in the case against the voice behind the beloved “Sesame Street” character Elmo, who took a leave of absence from the show after he was accused of having a relationship with an underage male.
Kevin Clash, who has been the voice of Elmo for 26 years, admitted that he had a relationship with the unknown male, but that it did not begin until after he was 18.
Sesame Street Workshop said Monday that it had disciplined Clash for showing “poor judgment” by violating the company’s Internet usage policy, but offered no further details. Now, it appears that Clash used his company e-mail address to send explicit e-mails.
Clash had an e-mail exchange in 2010 with the accuser (who would have been 21 at the time) that repeatedly mentioned sexual encounters, according to TMZ who obtained the e-mails.
“I’m sorry that I keep talking about sex with you, its driving me insane,” Clash wrote.
He continued, “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,” and “I’ll have my assistant book a ticket for you to come to NY and we can talk about this in person.”
The accuser filed a complaint with Sesame Street Workshop in June when he was 23, alleging that he had a sexual relationship when he was 16 and Clash was 45.
The accuser claimed he was being “silenced” by the company so he hired a lawyer from Andreozzi & Associates — the firm that represented one of Jerry Sandusky’s first known victims.
The law firm wrote a letter in August that accused the company of trying to “discredit the victim in order to protect its employee and the image of one of its most valuable characters….This approach places a greater value on a puppet than the well being of a young man,” according to TMZ.
Sesame Street Workshop says that it “conducted a thorough investigation and determined the allegation of underage sex was unsubstantiated.”