Was Elmo a Pedophile?

ChicagoTribune.com - "Nov 12 (TheWrap.com) - Kevin Clash, the puppeteer who controlled the iconic "Sesame Street" character Elmo, took a leave of absence from the Sesame Workshop after he was accused of having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old boy. Clash, who is 45, has acknowledged that a relationship took place, but insists it happened after the accuser was an adult. "Although this was a personal relationship unrelated to the workplace, our investigation did reveal that Kevin exercised poor judgment and violated company policy regarding internet usage and he was disciplined," Sesame Workshop said in a statement. "Kevin insists that the allegation of underage conduct is false and defamatory and he is taking actions to protect his reputation. We have granted him a leave of absence to do so." Clash's accuser contacted the workshop in June and alleged that he had a sexual relationship with seven years ago. "

This is easily one of the weirdest stories ever. Maybe it's because I didn't grow up in the later 80's when Elmo first came out, but I never was a Sesame Street guy so I feel relieved this didn't happen to any of my childhood memories. I mean if you tried telling me the dude that played the polliwog on "Gullah Gullah Island" was a child lover I'd be devastated. Either way This Kevin dude took a leave of absence basically because he knows he got caught and wants to get out now and start figuring "plan b" out. The funniest thing is that if it isn't already bad enough that he's being accused of this, he goes ahead and tries saying he waited for the kid to be legal. That is such a half lie it's sick (You know half lies, where you tell your parents that you got a bad grade on a test but throw on a few imaginary points to your score, making it sound better). Even so Kev, if you did wait for him to be 18, you'd still be way older than him... I mean if my math is correct Kevin was like 27 when this accuser was born. Makes you wonder about a lot; what were these guys like during their breaks on set of Sesame Street? Did they always talk in the characters voices? If Elmo turned out to be a pedophile, what in gods name did that trash can guy end up being?

P.s. does Elmo not look like Glen "Big Baby" Davis' identical fucking twin??