Update: George Takei denied in a series of tweets Scott R. Brunton’s claim that the iconic Star Trek star sexually assaulted him. More at The Hollywood Reporter.
Original story below:
Actor George Takei has been accused of sexually assaulting a former male model at his Los Angeles home in 1981.
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.
He told THR:
“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.”
Brunton added that he met with Takei, now 80, more than 20 years after the alleged incident, and planned to confront him about what had occurred. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
He said he was inspired to come forward with his experience with Takei following reports on allegations of sexual misconduct against numerous ofter Hollywood figures in recent weeks. Brunton reportedly specifically called attention to Takei’s own reaction statement issued after actor Kevin Spacey was recently accused of making an unwanted sexual advance by Star Trek: Discovery Anthony Rapp at a party in 1986.
Takei told THR at the time: “For Anthony Rapp, he has had to live with the memory of this experience of decades ago. For Kevin Spacey, who claims not to remember the incident, he was the older, dominant one who had his way. Men who improperly harass or assault do not do so because they are gay or straight — that is a deflection. They do so because they have the power, and they chose to abuse it.”
A representative for Takei told THR that the actor is traveling overseas and was not available to comment. The actor’s rep did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
Takei — best known for playing Hikaru Sulu on the original Star Trek television series — is one of dozens of prominent figures in Hollywood to have been accused of sexual misconduct in recent weeks. The flood of accusations was set off by an early October New York Times exposé that detailed decades of claims from multiple women against Hollywood super-producer Harvey Weinstein.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum
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