Netflix’s Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard has reportedly parted ways with major Hollywood talent shop, the Agency for the Performing Arts (APA), after the firm’s top representative for young stars was accused of sexually assaulting two young men.
Filmmaker and former child star Blaise Godbe Lipman named APA’s Tyler Grasham in a Facebook message this week as the man who sexually assaulted him when he was a teenage actor. Wolfhard, Variety reports, was one of Grasham’s clients. He represents several child actors.
“Tyler Grasham, under the pretense of a business meeting regarding potential agency representation at APA Agency, fed me alcohol while I was underage and sexually assaulted me,” Lipman wrote in a Facebook message. “APA Agency has kept this man employed, working with kid actors. I find it incredibly difficult to believe they do not know of his predatory behavior, using his position within the company to prey on naive kids.”
Lipman told TheWrap he met Grasham when he was 17 or 18.
Lucas Ozarowski, a 27-year-old actor, also alleged this week that he was sexually assaulted by Grasham.
Ozarowski said that after a night of drinking last year, Grasham “reached over and grabbed me under my pants. It really took me off guard. I pulled his hands out and said, ‘You know I’m not gay. I don’t want this Hollywood BS.'”
Ozarowski said Grasham apologized for the assault. Ozarowski said he took screenshots of the Facebook conversation. Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer referred Ozarowski to the LAPD, and instructed him to file a police report.
APA, Deadline reports, has opened an independent investigation into the accusations leveled against Grasham.
“APA takes these allegations extremely seriously and is investigating this matter,” a spokesman for the agency told Deadline.
Lipman said the ever-expanding Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse scandal gave him courage to speak out about his alleged abuse, noting that Hollywood’s problem with sexual assault for goes beyond the disgraced producer.
“The positive thing about the attention the Weinstein scandal has had, is it’s no longer about Harvey,” he wrote. “The conversation has moved on to the size of this epidemic and how to dismantle the system that protects these predators. And it’s given space and courage for victims to speak up, against their abuse. This is bigger than Weinstein.”
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson
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