'Elmo' puppeteer Kevin Clash resigns as second man files lawsuit over new underage sex allegations
JENNIFER GRAYLOCK/AP
Kevin Clash resigned on Tuesday after a second man came forward to say he had sex with the 'Sesame Street' voice actor and puppeteer when he was a teen.
There’s a vacancy on Sesame Street.
Puppeteer Kevin Clash, the longtime voice of “Elmo,” resigned Tuesday after a $5 million lawsuit labeled him a pedophile who trolled telephone chat rooms in a hunt for underage lovers.
The lawsuit was filed by a second man claiming that he was just a teenager when he had a sexual relationship with the award-winning voice of the beloved kids’ character.
Clash, 52, “was an unmarried adult male living a prominent public life centered around the entertainment of toddlers, while at the same time he was, in secret, preying on teenage boys to satisfy his depraved sexual interests,” the Manhattan lawsuit charged.
Sesame Workshop, which had granted Clash a leave of absence after the
first allegation of sex with a minor, issued a statement accepting his resignation after 28 years as Elmo.
“None of us, especially Kevin, want anything to divert our attention from our focus on serving as a leading educational organization,” the statement read. “This is a sad day for Sesame Street.”
Cecil Singleton is the second person to accuse Emmy award-winning puppeteer Kevin Clash of having sex with a minor, saying that the two had an encounter when Singleton was 15 years old.
According to the suit, Clash met a then 15-year-old Cecil Singleton on a gay chat line in 2003 and soon began wooing the youngster — taking him to dinner and giving the youth money.
“As a 15-year-old child, Cecil Singleton was not emotionally or psychologically prepared for a sexual relationship with a grown man in his 40s,” the suit said.
The plaintiff “suffered severe injuries, including but not limited to mental, psychological and emotional trauma,” the suit charged. “These injuries are continuing and (of a) permanent nature.”
EARLIER: FIRST ELMO ACCUSER FLIP-FLOPS, SAYS SEX DID OCCUR WHEN HE WAS UNDERAGE
'ELMO' ACCUSER'S CHECKERED PAST
Singleton was one of “multiple boys” targeted by Clash through the sex lines, according to the lawsuit.
An e-mail to a spokesman for Clash for reaction was not immediately returned.
Singleton, now 34, suffered “psychological and emotional effects” from the relationship, the lawsuit charged.
Last week, Clash was implicated by a 23-year-old man who said he was just 16 when the two began a sexual relationship.
Clash denied the claims and the accuser, Sheldon Stevens, later recanted.
But it later emerged that Sheldon received a $125,000 settlement in return for withdrawing the charges. The alleged victims now says the relationship was real and reportedly wants to return the money.
“He always thought he was the only one,” attorney Jeff Herman said of his client Singleton. “He was a compliant victim in that he participated in the sex. But it wasn’t until later on that he realized he was a victim because of his age.”
Herman told the Daily News Singleton carried on a sexual relationship with Clash when he was 15 and 16, and reconnected between the ages of 17 and 19.
WATCH THE VIDEO: Voice of Elmo Resigns After New Accusation
Source : http://www.nydailynews.com
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