George Takei Blames Sexual Assault Allegations on Russian Bots

Hollywood actor George Takei has blamed the spread of sexual assault allegations against him on Russian bots.

“A friend sent me this. It is a chart of what Russian bots have been doing to amplify stories containing the allegations against me,” Takei posted on Twitter, along with a picture of a trending topics chart featuring his name at the top. “It’s clear they want to cow me into silence, but do not fear, friends. I won’t succumb to that.”

“By way of background, when I criticized Putin’s anti-LGBT policies publicly, Russian bots attacked my [Facebook] page relentlessly, and we had to develop special security measures and ban all traffic from within the Russian Federation and the Ukraine,” he added in another post. “I am accustomed to their practices.”

Takei, a prominent anti-Trump, left-wing activist, has since deleted the posts.

This month, Takei was accused of sexually assaulting a male model at his home in 1981.

According to a report by Breitbart News’ Daniel Nussbaum, “Former model and actor Scott R. Brunton told the Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Friday evening that the alleged incident happened after the two returned to the actor’s condo following a night out at dinner and the theater.”

Brunton told the outlet he first met Takei at a Hollywood bar in 1981, when he was 24 and Takei was in his mid-40s, and struck up a friendship with the Star Trek star. After Brunton broke up with his boyfriend, he said, Takei called him and became a “great ear” and sympathetic listener, eventually inviting him out one night.

Once back at Takei’s condo, Brunton said he had two drinks, and after the second, felt “very disoriented and dizzy” and took a seat on a nearby bean-bag chair.

“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,” Brunton says. “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.’ And I said, ‘No. I don’t want to do this.’ And I pushed him off and he said, ‘OK, fine.’ And I said I am going to go and he said, ‘If you feel you must. You’re in no condition to drive.’ I said, ‘I don’t care I want to go.’ So I managed to get my pants up and compose myself and I was just shocked. I walked out and went to my car until I felt well enough to drive home, and that was that.”

Charlie Nash covers technology and LGBT news for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington and Gab @Nash, or like his page at Facebook.