Originally Posted By hopemax Since it was brought up in the conspiracy thread, and we know the whole rumors/truth/pants line I thought people should be informed. Both Clash and the other man say that the relationship started while the man was an adult. <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57549326-504083/elmo-accuser-recants-sex-abuse-claim-against-puppeteer-kevin-clash/" target="_blank">http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-50...n-clash/</a>
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 This is why I feel American't obsession with sexual stories is out of hand. This man's career is damaged if not outright ruined, and the charges are basically BS. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?
Originally Posted By ecdc It really is amazing. I get it. Child sexual abuse is real and it's just incredibly awful. I say that as a parent of two children. But how on earth can we have a culture where anyone can basically say anything and in the amount of time it takes for the words to leave someone's mouth, an entire life is ruined. Imagine that happening to you. Imagine volunteering for a field trip or at your church or whatever, and someone says something and the next thing you know, the entire world thinks you're a monster. Never mind that its not true and no one bothered to find out if it was true first. People think, "I don't do anything wrong so I have nothing to fear." How wrong they are.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>Imagine that happening to you. Imagine volunteering for a field trip or at your church or whatever<< A lot of churches do background checks on volunteers.
Originally Posted By fkurucz And have strict rules where adult volunteers can never be alone with a child. This is what it has come down to be.
Originally Posted By EdisYoda I belong to an international not for profit group that teaches and recreates the Middle Ages. Due to a multimillion dollar lawsuit that we had to settle, we are now required to have anyone organizing activities for children to have a formal background check. Also, unless under the direct supervision of their parents, children's activities must be supervised by at least 2 adults who are not related to each other or live in the same household. This has led to fewer and fewer activities for children and fewer volunteers want to deal with the hassles of the background check.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Imagine volunteering for a field trip or at your church or whatever, and someone says something and the next thing you know, the entire world thinks you're a monster.<< Yep. And now, even though this lie has been recanted quickly, I am sure that Mr. Clash's reputation will forever have an asterisk in the minds of many people.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer Unfortunately, when you have organizations with institutional practices of protecting their own people and reputation at the expense of the well-being of children, you need to have background checks and strict rules for volunteers. And people are going to immediately assume the worst when a story like this breaks, partially because of how groups like the Catholic Church or the Boy Scouts impeded law enforcement and the pursuit of justice against the offenders in their midst. <a href="http://spreadsheets.latimes.com/boyscouts-cases/" target="_blank">http://spreadsheets.latimes.co...s-cases/</a>
Originally Posted By mawnck Sad news ... The accuser has recanted his recantation, a second guy has come forward with new accusations, and Kevin Clash has resigned from the show. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/20/kevin-clash-resigns-elmo-sex-allegations_n_2165663.html" target="_blank">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...663.html</a>
Originally Posted By Dabob2 I didn't see (in that link, anyway) anything saying that the first accuser had recanted the recantation. I think it only mentions the original recantation (??) At any rate, we don't know much at this point and shouldn't assume any guilt.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Never a good sign when you Armstrong. (Insist you are innocent but give up the fight).
Originally Posted By mawnck >>I didn't see (in that link, anyway) anything saying that the first accuser had recanted the recantation.<< Woops. You're correct. I got that from this (maybe a teensy bit less reliable) source. <a href="http://gawker.com/5961760/accuser-in-elmo-sex-scandal-recants-his-recantation-says-he-was-pressured-to-retract-allegations" target="_blank">http://gawker.com/5961760/accu...egations</a>
Originally Posted By Schmitty Good Vibes Sad news. I always loved Elmo when he was on Jimmy Fallon's show.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Well, Jim Henson isn't the voice of Kermit anymore. You have to anticipate that they will find someone who can closely duplicate the voice. Whether or not that person can duplicate the personality is another matter.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 I say they go for a really clean break and bring in Dennis Haysbert or Trace Adkins, just to make the voice as much of a 180 as possible.
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