I, like many younger millennials, grew up on "Blue's Clues." Within a certain, significant demographic, it's a practically universal experience — the kind of ubiquitous cultural unifier that's increasingly difficult to find in the stratified digital age. And like so many, I watched as Steve Burns, the original star of the mostly animated, direct-address-to-audience-driven Nickelodeon children's show , walked away from it in the early 2000s, being replaced by Donovan Patton as Steve's younger brother, Joe.

In the wake of that departure, Burns became the favorite conspiracy target of an early Internet, with rumors of his demise and reasons for leaving the series — all greatly exaggerated — circulating constantly. Though he would occasionally pop back up in public to dispel these stories,

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