There’s a back story that probably has Art Bell very sensitive to rumors of this sort.
In the late ‘90s Bell’s teenage son was sexually assaulted by an hiv positive homosexual school teacher who is now serving a life sentence for the crime. Bell kept this family tragedy out of the news, but somehow it got out and was twisted into a rumor that Art Bell himself was a child molester.
Bell was the target of threats and hate filled phone calls because people believed the rumors that they had heard. IIRC he was also rumored to have made vile comments about the Philippine people despite his obvious affection for them.
Anyway his radio show was bombarded with calls attacking him and this appears to have been what drove him to quit the show in 2000.
It could be that he feels that he has to publicly fight rumors of this sort because he has personally experienced how dangerous they can be if you hope that they will simply go away.
Ah, makes sense. Thanks for the rest of the story.
heh - see post 58!