The voice of 'Sesame Street' 's Elmo allegedly agrees to pay his accuser, Sheldon Stephens, the huge amount in exchange for a public retraction of his underage sex claim.
- November 19, 2012
AceShowbiz -
Kevin Clash, Elmo puppeteer and voice actor, has reportedly agreed to pay a settlement amount of $125,000 to his accuser, Sheldon Stephens, in exchange for the aspiring model to publicly recant his story of underage sex claim. Reports of the settlement were released by TMZ, which revealed that the agreement was for Stephens to immediately retract his story and clear that his sexual relationship with Clash was an adult consensual relationship.
Stephens, believed to be 24 now, had to repeat the precise statement under the terms of settlement, which read, "Stephens agrees that immediately upon execution of this Agreement, his counsel, Andreozzi & Associates, P.C., shall release the [following] statement ... 'He [Stephens] wants it to be known that his sexual relationship with Mr. Clash was an adult consensual relationship."
A source told TMZ that Stephens cried throughout the final negotiations with Clash's lawyers and repeatedly insisted he didn't want to sign. The site also learned that even though Stephens ended up signing the settlement, the he continues to insist Clash had sex with him when he was a minor.
Stephens publicly accused Clash of an underage sexual affair earlier November and his recantation came one day after the accusations were published, setting off a firestorm in the media. Clash has since taken a leave of absence from the Sesame Workshop, which produces the popular children's TV show, "Sesame Street", on PBS.
