There’s sad and disturbing news today out of Sesame Street, always known as a safe house for kids. The longtime voice of Elmo, Kevin Clash, is being accused of having a sexual relationship with a teenage boy, possibly while the accuser was underage.

Clash has taken a leave of absence in light of the story getting out. The voice actor and puppeteer has been the voice of Elmo since 1984. He confirmed to TMZ, who broke the story, that the relationship has been going on but it took place after the accuser was an adult and consensually. “I had a relationship with [the accuser]. It was between two consenting adults and I am deeply saddened that he is trying to make it into something it was not,” said Clash.

For their part, Sesame Workshop has confirmed that they’ve met with lawyers representing the accuser. “In June of this year, Sesame Workshop received a communication from a young man who alleged that he had a relationship with Kevin Clash beginning when he was 16-years-old. This was a personal relationship, unrelated to the workplace. We took the allegation very seriously and took immediate action.”

More trouble started brewing when the accuser teamed up with the lawyers who represented Jerry Sandusky during his child rape cases. They accused Sesame of trying to keep this story under wraps in order to protect Elmo and Sesame’s brand. Sesame claims they “conducted a thorough investigation and determined the allegation of underage sex was unsubstantiated.”

It is not clear why Clash has taken a leave of absence from Sesame Street since he is denying the allegations of underage sex.

Clash has been in the spotlight over the past couple of years because of the documentary Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey. The film by Constance Marks recalls Clash’s puppet career and how he got the job with Sesame. We’ve seen the documentary and highly recommend it.