At the start of the week a person had come forward claiming that Kevin Clash, the voice and puppeteer of Sesame Street’s Elmo, had a sexual relationship with him while the accuser was underage.

The accuser has now recanted his statement.

The unnamed 23-year-old said through his lawyer that his relationship was an “adult consensual” one. After this statement was made, Clash released a statement, saying “I am relieved that this painful allegation has been put to rest. I will not discuss it further.” Sesame Street added that they were “pleased that this matter has been brought to a close.” On Monday they had said they’d been investigating the claims and found no substantiated evidence of underage conduct.

Clash had announced on Monday that he was taking a temporary leave of absence from Sesame Street on Monday to deal with the accusations. He also revealed that he is a gay man. There’s no word yet on how soon he will return to the show. Sesame Street’s Elmo character is easily one of the show’s most popular and profitable faces.

Elmo had been in the news in recent weeks for going on a New York radio station to comfort kids about the damage Hurricane Sandy had done to the area.