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NEW YORK - Kevin Clash, the puppeteer who performs as Elmo on Sesame Street, is on a leave of absence from the show following allegations of sex with an underage boy.

The story was first reported on celebrity gossip website TMZ.com early this morning, and according to that story a 23-year-old man is claiming he and Clash had a sexual relationship when Clash was 45 and he was 16.

News 4 Tucson reached out to Sesame Workshop for a comment on this this story. The statement, in part, says: "We took the allegation very seriously. 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."

Sesame Workshop also says they have disciplined Clash for exercising poor judgement and violating company policy regarding internet usage.

Meantime Clash says the allegation of underage conduct is false and has been granted a leave of absence from the show, in order to deal with these allegations.