Everyone In Hollywood Is (Allegedly) A Perv: George Takei, Richard Dreyfuss, And Benny Medina
But you surmised that already, right? Everything that was semi-solid feels like it’s crumbling as we finish up with 2017. 2016 was “The Year That Everyone Good Died (In Addition To Hope)“. This year’s theme is “The Year That All Your Illusions Joined The Dead People From 2016.”
The Harvey Weinstein situation opened the floodgates for many, many, many, many, many women and men to finally feel empowered to share their own stories of sexual harassment/abuse from rich and powerful Hollywood types. We’ve now learned that Star Trek actor/America’s Formerly(?) Most Beloved Homosexual George Takei is being accused of sexual assault. That’s in addition to actor Richard Dreyfuss (whose son recently claimed that Kevin Spacey sexually assaulted him), and music/tv executive Benny Medina. At this point, 2018 will hopefully be “The Year The Asteroids Rained Down And Ended This Shit.“
The Hollywood Reporter has a story about a former model accusing George of sexually assaulting him in 1981. There’s probably a lack of funny memes for George to post about this topic. Scott R. Brunton is the former model/actor who claims he was drugged and sexually assaulted at age 23 by the then 44-year old at George’s L.A. condo. Scott says that, early in his career, he met George in a bar and they became friendly with each other. When Scott broke up with his boyfriend, George invited him out to console him and they ended up at George’s place. That’s when Sulu allegedly made like Cliff Huxtable.
“We have the drink and he asks if I would like another. And I said sure. So, I have the second one, and then all of a sudden, I begin feeling very disoriented and dizzy, and I thought I was going to pass out. I said I need to sit down and he said sit over here and he had the giant yellow beanbag chair. So I sat down in that and leaned my head back and I must have passed out.”
Scott says he came to with his pants around his ankles and George “groping” his crotch while “trying to get my underwear off and feeling me up at the same time.” He says that he pushed George off, who allegedly told him that he was just trying to get him “comfortable.” These actions had the opposite effect and Burton got out of there. The Hollywood Reporter spoke with four of Scott’s friends who confirmed that he “had confided in them about the Takei encounter years ago.”
George denied the allegations on Twitter:
Right now it is a he said / he said situation, over alleged events nearly 40 years ago. But those that know me understand that non-consensual acts are so antithetical to my values and my practices, the very idea that someone would accuse me of this is quite personally painful. /4
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) November 11, 2017
As for Richard Dreyfuss, Vulture reports that a Los Angeles writer is accusing him of sexually harassing and exposing himself to her in the 1980s. Jessica Teich says that she read Harry Dreyfuss’ account of Kevin Spacey allegedly assaulting him and found Richard’s words of support to be slightly hypocritical.
I remember thinking, But wait a minute, this guy harassed me for months. He was in a position of so much power over me, and I didn’t feel I could tell anyone about it. It just seemed so hypocritical.”
In a Facebook post, Jessica claims that Richard sexually harassed her for a two-to-three year period in the mid-1980s while they were working on a television project together. She also says that he exposed himself to her once, and put his penis really close to her face. It felt like Richard wanted her to blow him, but she didn’t and left.
She also claims that he “tried to kiss her in professional settings,” slipped “her “I love you” notes during meetings,” and staged “unsubtle verbal sneak attacks.”
“He has that way of sidling up to you and saying things like, ‘I want to fuck you,’”
Whatever happened to “who’s doing the coffee run?” Richard wrote a LENGTHY statement in response, explaining that he was “an asshole” (sounds like!) back then but denied Jessica’s claims. The crux would be:
I emphatically deny ever “exposing” myself to Jessica Teich, whom I have considered a friend for 30 years. I did flirt with her, and I remember trying to kiss Jessica as part of what I thought was a consensual seduction ritual that went on and on for many years. I am horrified and bewildered to discover that it wasn’t consensual.
If you’re still with us and haven’t exited for a full-body chemical peel to do away with the nasty images, The Advocate reports that an actor named Jason Dottley (who appeared in Sordid Lives: The Series) is claiming that music exec Benny Medina tried to rape him at Medina’s mansion in December 2008. The well-known Benny Medina produced The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (which was supposedly based on his life), as well as managing Jennifer Lopez, Mariah Carey, and Will Smith at one point or another. Jason claims that Benny invited him and his friend and fellow actor T. Ashanti Mozelle to a tour of his home. Benny allegedly led Dottley to his bedroom, which is where he claims he attacked him.
“What I remember most about the encounter with Benny was the feeling of giving up,” Dottley says. “The moment I realized that I could not fight him off, that I was slowly losing my ability to breathe because of his arm on my neck, that moment of complete and utter powerlessness, that’s what I remember the most.”
Ashanti backed Jason’s story, and they claim that he’s the one who interrupted Benny Medina’s attack. Benny is then said to have thrown them out, as well as allegedly threatening to kill Jason’s then-husband, Sordid Lives creator Del Shores, if he talked. This was supposedly via a later text to Dottley. Benny Medina denied the allegations via his attorneys in a statement to People.
Well, there’s your daily round-up of terrible stories about famous people supposedly sexually harassing and assaulting people. We should probably just change “Dlisted” to “Here’s The Famous People Who Have Been Accused Of Rape This Week.” Not exactly a catchy name for a blog, but sadly accurate.