Elmo Muppeteer Kevin Clash resigns from Sesame Street

[mupcollector1]

We'll miss you, Kevin.

That's a very lovely picture.

 

[SSLFan]

Must admit I'm still a little overwhelmed by this news. I feel like this really won't sink in until I hear the new Elmo voice.

 

[dwmckim]

From the AP's most recent write-up:

"Episodes with Clash performing as Elmo will presumably continue well into 2014. Taping of season No. 44 will wrap by mid-December and will begin airing next September, according to someone close to the show who spoke on condition of anonymity."

...and...here's a site with a poll asking if you believe the accusations against Clash. As i write, it's currently at "86%: No" (before someone linked to it on a Muppet fan board!):

http://www.cinemablend.com/pop/Kevin-Clash-Do-You-Buy-Allegations-Against-Elmo-Puppeteer-49555.html

 

[cahuenga]

I want to give all my prayers and love for Kevin, Im sure we will miss him so much on Sesame, but I hope he would come to The Muppets franchise and we would see Clifford again! and Im sure the Henson familly would support him like all the fans at Muppet Central.

 

[MedullaPancreas]

I understand your frustration I do... but lets reemeber that Kevin was not fired, he quit on his own.

Yes these are issues that involve Kevin's personal life, but it also deals with "minors" who may or may not have been involved with Sesame Street. Even is they where not the way the media has turned this out to be has made Kevin look really bad, and it also afeccts Sesame. Many partents would start questioning why they where allowing Kevin to still be on the show in light of all these events whether true or false.

In Kevin's statment he says that these issues are taking away the focas of what Sesame is really all about, and sadly he is right. The sad part about this is that even though it was part of Kevin's personal life it has also affeced Sesame Street.

Usually people in Kevin's position are given the opportunity to resign, perhaps to keep some royalties on his performances, rather than the shame of walking the plank and being outright fired and losing everything. So I'm sure he wasn't given much choice in the matter given Sesame Streets history of caving and kowtowing to fundamentalists groups, who don't respect anyone's right to due process before being marched to the bonfires by an angry mob. This story was at least a week ripe when this statement suddenly broke and made the issue fresh in everyone's mind again. Even the New York Daily News posted a retraction of sorts when it claimed the accusor was a convicted criminal serving time in jail (my friend thinks Kevin was extorted by this convict to keep the information secret and he balked. )

In any event, true, or untrue, I'm reserving judgment till Mr. Clash has his day in court. Until then I think it's a sad day on earth when allegations alone can end an entire career; love; and livelihood. But that's just par for the course given the culture of fear we've been bred to pay for. Kevin Clash isn't the first victim of this character assassination by media to sell sensationalism nor will he be the last, certainly.

Thanks for your comment, Dwayne.

 

[ftnpro]

I still hope that these accusations turn out to be false, and we discover that they're just a money grab by the accuser. We'll have to wait and see. In any case, it's a sad time in many ways.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

What was wrong with Richard's life? He was a gay man - so what? So am I. I'm proud of him. He did nothing wrong.

I agree with that completely. That can be said of a lot of actors, Bruce Vilanch of "Hollywood Squares," Reginald VelJohnson of "Family Matters." Homosexuality doesn't make anyone any less of a person.

"Episodes with Clash performing as Elmo will presumably continue well into 2014. Taping of season No. 44 will wrap by mid-December and will begin airing next September, according to someone close to the show who spoke on condition of anonymity."

Well, that's good news. If Kevin does decide to reconsider this, he'll have time before they film new episodes, but I guess the way things are going that still seems unlikely. *sigh*

 

[inturnaround]

As Elmo will still be in the parade Thursday, I wonder which puppeteer gets the thankless task of performing Elmo (to Kevin Clash's prerecorded vocals).

 

[Drtooth]

Woody Allen married his underage step daughter...and I love the guy like nothing else. Same with Jerry Seinfeld, who also married an underage girl.

Chris Brown on the other hand, brutally attacked and almost killed mega pop star Rhianna. R Kelly raped a 12 year old. On camera. Both their careers have skyrocketed again, whereas Pee Wee Herman's career was destroyed for something almost innocent.

There are those that theorize that Paul Ruebens did that on purpose to kill off a character he was sick to death of that wasn't intended for children anyway. But he's since been able to have a career being himself, even doing VO work for kid's movies and TV shows. I'm glad to see he bounced back. Now they're trying to go after Fred Willard for doing the same thing. Seriously, that's what home video is for.

But seriously... Woody Allen married his own daughter. Adopted, but underage daughter.

Ok, wanted to apologize. I got some facts wrong. This incident was alleged to have taken place in 2003, not 1993 as I misread. I do believe the young man when he says he was heavily sexually abused as a young child and growing up. However he admits to being with a lot of older men. So why single out Kevin?

It's sad that he was actually sexually abused at one point, but to troll after older men as a result and only mentioning one with deep pockets? How come there are people jumping to defend that? It's wrong on both counts, let's just agree to that.

 

[DTF]

If I can shift the discussion to comment on some things said about the "end of elmo" earlier in this thread...

This smacks of the same sensationalism that has caused Mr. Clash to feel the need to resign. Whether the fast-paced information frenzy of life leads to people jumping to that kind of conclusion, and the media feeds off of that, or instead we are led to fear such things *by* the media, I don't know. I only know that we must step back and look at this realistically.

Yes, there are some people who can't tell a performer from a character. These tend to be the same types who don't understand that except for one episode of M*A*S*H I recall, no TV show actually takes place in 30 minutes' time. The problems solved on sitcoms are solved the same day sometimes, mroe often the next day or within a few, sometimes an episode takes place over weeks. To someone who is able to watch TV with any kind of discerning eye, they can tell that.

Was Mr. Clash identified with Elmo? Yes. But, the opposite need not be true. Look at something like Star Trek, where William Shtner was Captain kirk, but the most recent movie featured a young man playing Kirk in his Academy days, and while I'm not the biggest fan, I was a huge TOS fan when I was little, I couldn't imagine anyone but Shatner int he part, and yet when i finally watched the movie witha college buddy on vacation this past summer (I hand't watched a ST movie for over a decade, but don't watch movies at all really anymore) I thought to myself, "Yes, that's Captain Kirk." Why? Because he enough amnnerisms and such that were like Shatner portrayed him that I could say, "You know, he plays him a little differently, but i can still see it's the same character."

That's because the character is in a fictional universe where he exists independent of the actor. I don't care if it's an 8-year-old playing "Star Trek" with his friends (and yes,that was me in the '70s) - that 8YO may not create universe canon, but he is being Captain Kirk.

It's so much more so for Elmo, where just a voice is used. Yeah, Elmo might sound a bit different, just like the guy who played Kirk didn't have the same somewhat overacting style Shatner did (the typical "Your'e trying too hard" thing - which was also like I would do). But, he had enough similarities it was very good. In the same way, Elmo will still have the same mannerisms int he same univese in which he exists independent of who plays him.

Indeed, this should be a chance for Sesame Street to educate kids about TV, that it doesn't matter who the people are who play the characters. Maybe if we educated more kids from the beginning that what they see is just a fictional unvierse and anyone can play a chaacter for pretend, maybe it'll kick in that the actor is not the character and performers themselves won't have people asking why they did stuff when it was just a part they played.

Now, if we can only get Oscar to start grousing as he's watching TV, "This show is dumb! They just went tot he next scene and a whole day went by on my show. I thought everythign was supposed to be solved in 30 minutes!" With Gordon explaining how TV works.

Or not; I don't watch TV like that anymore, eitehr. I miss the '70s and '80s sitcoms.