[UPDATE] What a Relief ...Accuser Recants Allegations

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Elmo is innocent.

The man who accused Kevin Clash , the puppeteer behind the "Sesame Street" favorite, of having a sexual relational with him when the man was underage, has now recanted his allegations.

A lawyer for the unidentified accuser said in a statement on Tuesday that his client "wants it to be known that his sexual relationship with Mr. Clash was an adult consensual relationship."

The man "will have no further comment on the matter."

Clash, who took a leave of absence from Sesame Workshop when the allegations were made public on Monday, released his own statement.

He said, "I am relieved that this painful allegation has been put to rest. I will not discuss it further."

We are pleased that this matter has been brought to a close, and we are happy that Kevin can move on from this unfortunate episode," announced Sesame Workshop
 

The man who claims he had a sexual relationship with Kevin Clash -- the voice of Elmo -- is RECANTING his story ... claiming he WAS an adult during their relationship after all.

The accuser's lawyer just released a statement saying, "[The accuser] wants it to be known that his sexual relationship with Mr. Clash was an adult consensual relationship. [The accuser] will have no further comment."

It's unclear why the accuser suddenly changed his story ... but sources close to the situation tell TMZ ... the accuser's attorney had been meeting with Clash's attorney as recent as an hour ago, discussing a financial settlement and 6-figures were on the table.

We broke the story, the accuser claimed he had a sexual relationship with Kevin beginning when he was 16 and Kevin was 45.

Clash has also released a statement saying, "I am relieved that this painful allegation has been put to rest. I will not discuss it further."


On Monday it was reported that Clash had taken a leave of absence from the children's show to fight the accusations.

When the allegation first arose, Sesame Workshop, the non-profit organization that produces the show, released a statement that seems to fall in line with the accuser's new assertions.
We took the allegation very seriously and took immediate action. We met with the accuser twice and had repeated communications with him. We met with Kevin, who denied the accusation. We also conducted a thorough investigation and found the allegation of underage conduct to be unsubstantiated. Although this was a personal relationship unrelated to the workplace, our investigation did reveal that Kevin exercised poor judgment and violated company policy regarding internet usage and he was disciplined.