Elmo is tainted. I hate to say it, but it's true. I was watching Michael Buble's (aka Mikey Bubbly) Christmas special last night on NBC and when the time came for him and Elmo to do their skit, I couldn't watch it. I've never been a huge Elmo fan anyway because the Sesame Street I grew up with didn't have Elmo. The Sesame Street I loved growing up in the 70s had Big Bird, the Count, Cookie Monster, Kermit, Mr. Snuffleupagus, and Oscar the Grouch. And, the Sesame Street I grew up with didn't focus on the men or women behind the puppets and costumes. It was all about the characters.
The whole thing with Kevin Clash and his underaged paramours has just left a bad taste in my mouth and that bad taste has, sadly, trickled down to Elmo. I don't even know if Kevin Clash was the puppet operator and voice of Elmo on Buble's show, but it didn't matter. Just hearing Elmo's baby voice and seeing him with Bubbly made me flip the channel. Kevin Clash is so closely associated with Elmo that it's hard to separate the two. If he had just stayed behind the scenes and did his job as one of the many anonymous people who work to bring Sesame Street to life, no one ever would have heard about him and maybe his private life would have stayed private. I suspect some or maybe all of Clash's accusers are hustlers out to make a buck. But Clash displayed poor judgment in getting involved with these guys. It's just a bad situtation all the way around.
On a more positive note, I did enjoy Bubbly's Christmas special (in spite of Elmo, Blake Shelton, and the weird duet with Bing Crosby). His duet with Rod Stewart was particularly good along with his rendition of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" at the end.
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