For the past few weeks now, more and more people have been coming forward with horror stories about sexual assault and/or sexual harassment committed by various Hollywood figures.
Needless to say, it’s been an overwhelmingly depressing time.
Harvey Weinstein’s accusers opened the floodgates — so, so many women have shared their horror stories about him, and a few of the stories have been about rape.
From there, everything just kind of fell apart.
Several men claimed that Kevin Spacey assaulted them, including actor Anthony Rapp, who was only 14 at the time of the alleged incident.
Writer/director James Toback has been accused of assault by literally hundreds of women, and Louis C.K. was accused of (and admitted to) abusing his position of power in the comedy world to masturbate in front of female comedians and coworkers.
Two women have accused Ed Westwick of rape, and Ben Affleck is facing a sex scandal of his own.
And now we have one more name to add to the list of the accused: George Takei.
In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, a former actor and model named Scott R. Brunton recounts a tale that took place in 1981, when he was living in L.A. and trying to get his career going.
He says that he met George at a bar, and that they exchanged phone numbers and struck up a friendship.
When Scott went through a bad breakup, he says George reached out to him and offered to take him out to dinner and a show.
“He was very good at consoling me and understanding that I was upset and still in love with my boyfriend,” he recalls. “He was a great ear. He was very good about me spilling my heart on my sleeve.”
When the evening was over, the two went back to George’s home for a drink, but Scott claims that when he had had his second drink, “I begin feeling very disoriented and dizzy, and I thought I was going to pass out.”
He says that he did end up passing out, and “The next thing I remember I was coming to and he had my pants down around my ankles and he was groping my crotch and trying to get my underwear off and feeling me up at the same time, trying to get his hands down my underwear.”
“I came to and said, ‘What are you doing?!’ I said ‘I don’t want to do this.’ He goes ‘You need to relax. I am just trying to make you comfortable. Get comfortable."”
Scott claims that he told him “I don’t want to do this,” and then he left.
It’s a horrible story — all of them are.
But for what it’s worth, George has already strongly denied the story.
“Friends,” he began a series of tweets, “I’m writing to respond to the accusations made by Scott R. Brunton. I want to assure you all that I am as shocked and bewildered at this claims as you must feel reading them.”
It’s true — people are especially shocked at these claims, because unlike Weinstein and Kevin Spacey and Louis C.K., there have never been any rumors about anything like this.
George continued with “The events he describes back in the 1980s simply did not occur, and I do not know why he has claimed them now.”
“I have wracked my brain to ask if I remember Mr. Brunton, and I cannot say I do.”
“But I do take these claims very seriously,” he added, “and I wanted to provide my response thoughtfully and not out of the moment.”
“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.”
He wrote that his husband is “100 percent beside me on this” and that he “stands fully by my side. I cannot tell you how vital it has been to have his unwavering support and love in these difficult times.”
“Thanks to many of you for all the kind words and trust,” he finished. “It means so much to us. Yours in gratitude, George.”
Do you believe him?
