Elmo accuser wants to take back recanting of accusations: Report

Monday November 19, 2012 2:39 PM By TIM HERRERA

Photo credit: Kevin Clash with Elmo in 2011/Getty | amny

Elmo's puppeteer isn't quite out of the woods yet, as the man accusing him of an underage tryst is trying to go back on his recanting of the original allegations.

Sheldon Stephens, now 24, said he was pressured into signing a settlement that made him walk back his accusations that when he was 16 he had a sexual relationship with Elmo puppeteer and voice Kevin Clash, according to TMZ.com.

The gossip site said Stephens was in tears when he signed the settlement and repeatedly told his lawyers he didn't want to sign it.

Stephens now is talking to Los Angeles lawyers in a bid to reverse the settlement, and is willing to forfeit the reported $125,000 he got out of it, the site said.

Stephens' accusations were revealed last week, though he made the claims over the summer. Sesame Street Workshop said it conducted its own investigations, and concluded the claims were unfounded.

Clash, 52, took a leave of absence from the show to deal with the situation, and has said all along that the relationship happened when Stephens was of legal age.

Stephens' attorneys and Sesame Street Workshop didn't respond to requests for comment.

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