A third man has filed a lawsuit against Sesame Street puppeteer Kevin Clash, the longtime actor behind the PBS series’ leading character Elmo who resigned last week amid allegations of having underage sex with boys. The latest suit, filed today in Manhattan, is from an unidentified Florida man who claims that he and Clash connected on a gay telephone chat line when the man was 16 in 2000, and the two had sexual encounters at Clash’s New York apartment. A spokeswoman says Clash “believes this lawsuit has no merit.” Clash stepped down a week ago after a second accuser filed suit alleging he had underage sex with Clash, who had been on Sesame Street for 28 years. The first accuser in the scandal came forward earlier this month after filing a lawsuit; Clash was put on leave by series producer Sesame Workshop; that accuser later recanted his story.