Kevin Clash, the puppeteer who voices the insanely popular Sesame Street monster Elmo, is taking a leave of absence from the show in response to claims by a 23 year old man that he and Clash have been in a sexual relationship for the past seven years. Yes, that’s right; the man says he and Clash have been having sex since he was 16 years old.

Clash doesn’t deny that he had a relationship with the man, who hasn’t been identified, but he is adamant that he didn’t begin the relationship with the man until he was of legal age.

In any case, this isn’t good news for Sesame Street.