'Sad Elmo’s Very Bad Week'

As Stacy McCain quips, “Elmo’s going bye-bye:”

Today’s episode is brought to you by the letters “C,” “Y” and “A.” Also, “W,” “T” and “F.” Mary Katherine Ham:

Sesame Workshop has an incentive to protect its brand, and Clash had become a big part of it, but one would think any hint of sexual impropriety with minors would have gotten Clash tossed out of an organization whose entire mission is to work closely with children thanks to tremendous trust from parents.

Exactly, and notice the Sesame Street statement:

Unfortunately, the controversy surrounding Kevin’s personal life has become a distraction that none of us wants, and he has concluded that he can no longer be effective in his job and has resigned from Sesame Street.

Yeah, the “controversy” is a “distraction,” i.e., a public relations issue, rather than a troubling accusation that might indicate children have been put at risk by the organization’s willingness to ignore evidence (if there was evidence) of wrongdoing (if there was wrongdoing).

One can think of many contexts in which such accusations against an individual would raise questions about the suspect’s employer.

At Forbes, Jeff Bercovici writes, “Voice of Elmo Resigns From ‘Sesame Street’ As Accusations Start To Snowball:”

The disruption for Sesame Workshop comes as public broadcasting in the U.K. is also grappling with a scandal involving sexual misconduct toward minors. Multiple inquiries have been opened into the BBC’s handling of Jimmy Savile, a deceased on-air personality who is accused of sexually abusing more than 300 children during his long tenure at the broadcaster.

Bercovici’s headline hints that there could be additional shoes to drop in this story. If so, it would be yet another reminder that if America’s leftwing elites are determined to transform the nation into a super-sized, yet equally dissipated version of England in the 1970s, we shouldn’t be surprised if we have scandals of a potentially similar nature as well.

Related: “Poor old Penn State University can’t catch a break.”

And for yet another example of Blair’s Law in action, “Watch Elmo Do Government Propaganda!”