BACKlikeWEneverLEFT

“What’s going on good people, we have a guest blogger who wanted to contribute to Backlikeweneverleft.com.  Given the subject matter and recent occurrences I felt it was a good topic. This is from our first female guest writer, so on that note back to money.”  So Puff and I have been discussing the recent news of Kevin Clash, who many know as the voice of Elmo, and his recent troubles. Let me start out by saying I’m a frequent reader of this this blog. I’m a Kevin Clash fan, especially after watching “Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey” because it showcased his talents, his humble beginnings from Baltimore and his professional relationship with the late Jim Henson (creator of the Muppets and original voices of various Sesame Street characters). Also I currently work in the media industry.

Now with that being said, when I first learned of the story I was shocked and then I smelled set up. Not because Mr. Clash is such an outstanding citizen that he probably wouldn’t commit such a crime as “allegedly” having sex with an under age boy. Lets face it, in this day and age anything can be possible. But I wanted to leave judgement for after hearing the whole story. So my issue with the story came after reading Mr. Clash’s response:

“I am a gay man. I have never been ashamed of this or tried to hide it, but felt it was a personal and private matter. I had a relationship with the accuser. It was between two consenting adults and I am deeply saddened that he is trying to characterize it as something other than what it was. I am taking a break from Sesame Workshop to deal with this false and defamatory allegation,” said Clash in a statement to NBC News.

Based on what I know about Clash as a well know personality in his genre and what I’ve learned from his recent documentary, plus learning more details of this news story, like how the accuser took years to make these claims, I grew skeptical of them. Why now are you bringing these things to light? Why not when it happened? Of course some might be scared or traumatized by what may have happened. However, in the back of my mind when a rich, famous, and/or high profile person gets accused of something like this AND it takes this long to come public, what were his real reasons for accusing him? These days secrets always get exposed. Also the fact that Clash admitted to everything makes me question the accuser more. In my personal opinion, a guilty person wouldn’t make a statement like this or rather if he was guilty the statement would be phrased completely different.

As it turns out I had reasons to be skeptical. The unnamed accuser recanted his statement:

Andreozzi & Associates, a law firm that said it represented the anonymous accuser, said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon that “he wants it to be known that his sexual relationship with Mr. Clash was an adult consensual relationship.” The statement added, “He will have no further comment on the matter.” quote from a NY Times article

After reading that I’ve come to the conclusion that this man, now 23 I believe, I’m assuming did this for selfish reasons thinking he was going to cash in. We’ve heard this story many times in the media before where a famous person is accused of something he/she didn’t do or rather the situation is not fully explained. When in reality, the situation is exaggerated before the full truth is revealed. I feel like this is detrimental in so many ways and shows how lies or in this case twisting the truth can literally ruin a man’s reputation. I’m not saying him being gay is an issue for me personally or is the issue is in this case. The issue is that a man who works in children’s media was accused of having sex with an under age boy when really he was having a consensual sexual relationship with an adult. The alleged victim caused a media frenzy, had a man take a leave of absence from his job, only to say it wasn’t true. Horrible. What if he never recanted his accusations? You’re willing to destroy a man’s life, who by the way is a symbol of childhood innocence for millions, for some extra dollars and to out him as a gay man. Even though it turned out the accuser was lying, this might forever taint this man’s name and future with a company he’s worked in for almost 30 years.

I know a lot of jokes have been made regarding this story and in similar situations like this. I could probably name numerous celebrities, athletes, and political figures that have been in this situation. What’s sad is it makes it difficult to believe the truth and the stories of real victims. People can lie so easily on your character and lies move faster than truth and destroy your reputation in minutes. I’m not in any way saying don’t believe the victim in scenarios like this. I just feel people pass judgement too quickly before learning all the facts. With that being said, beware of the crying wolf, your reputation and life you built might be next.