4 things you didn’t know about Sesame Street’s PR
A peek inside the public relations department at the iconic children’s show that continues to manage the Kevin Clash crisis.
The iconic children’s empire has faced several PR crises, from Mitt Romney’s threat to defund PBS (despite his claiming, “I like Big Bird”) to accusations of inappropriate sexual relationships lodged against the Elmo puppeteer.
Good thing the organization behind “Sesame Street” has such a savvy PR team.
Here are four things you didn’t know about the communicators at Sesame Workshop:
1. Their handling of the Elmo puppeteer situation is textbook crisis PR.
Last week, a 23-year-old man alleged that Kevin Clash, the puppeteer behind Elmo, had carried on an inappropriate sexual relationship with him when the accuser was 16. Later, the man recanted the accusation, only to lodge it again, claiming he had been pressured to back away from his claims after receiving a cash payoff from Clash.
On Tuesday, Clash resigned from “Sesame Street” after a second accuser emerged.
Sesame Workshop issued an immediate response, calling it a “sad day for Sesame Street”:
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