'Evil Elmo' performer says bad rap isn't justified

Houston Chronicle ^ | March 5, 2014 | Vivian Ho

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Photo By Sam Wolson/Special to the Chronicle

Elmo lay crumpled in a plastic bag at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.

Dan Sandler, the street performer who has become notorious for wearing the furry red costume while posing for photos with children and tourists, decided to forgo the outfit Wednesday - at least while defending himself against accusations that his troubled past made him unfit to depict the beloved "Sesame Street" character.

Yes, Sandler said in an interview with The Chronicle, he once ran a pornographic website in Cambodia called Welcome to Rape Camp.

Yes, he recently spent time in jail for trying to extort $2 million out of the Girl Scouts of America. And yes, he made anti-Semitic remarks that caused a stir in New York's Central Park. Making an unfair leap

But Sandler said distressed merchants and street kids at the wharf are making an unfair leap - that he is a child predator. He said he should be allowed to make a buck without the harassment he has experienced since his return to San Francisco a few weeks ago.

"People are being told lies about me," said Sandler, who is 50 and homeless. "I'm really sick of it. I'm just trying to make a living."......

[12th_Monkey]

More Kalifornia trash.

[albertabound]

get a real job then...try Walmart..an ex pornographer should not be hanging around with children...even in San Francisco.

[WayneS]

He said he's never aggressive, though he was cited by police for aggressive panhandling on Sunday.

Given the city's "anything goes" reputation, I wonder what someone has to do in order to get cited by the San Francisco police for "aggressive panhandling" - lift people by their ankles and shake the change out of their pockets?

[Mrs. Don-o]

My exact thought. To be considered an “aggressive” panhandler in Frisco you’d probably have to pry the gold out of somebody’s teeth.

[Flick Lives]

50-year-old Dan Sandler peeks out from under his Elmo costume while waiting for tourists to pass by in Fisherman's Wharf on March 5th 2014. Sandlers has been known to go on various heated controversial rants while wearing the costume.

What parent wouldn't want their kid watching Elmo rant about a global Jewish conspiracy. It's multicultural. It's diverse. *sheesh*

[IronJack]

In San Francisco, an ex-pornographer would be hanging around the City Council or school board. Especially if he produced homo porn.

[SZonian]

Assumptions...such wonderful things...it’s a good thing California is a magnet for such trash...it’s not like the trash could possibly come from any other holier than thou state whose crap doesn’t stink and comes out wrapped in cellophane.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/dan-sandler-elmo-impersonator-sentenced-to-a-year-in-prison-in-girl-scouts-extortion-plot/

Sandler, of Ashland, Ore

[12th_Monkey]

Kali gets the play for these kinds of things more so than any other state.
So I play the odds, if it’s weird, odds in my favor it’ll come out of Kalifornia.
I know it’s the pot calling the kettle black, Texas has it’s weirdies too...usually in Austin, the Kalifornia of Texas.

[Organic Panic]

Wasn’t the elmo puppeteer busted for diddling kids? Oh the irony.