Actor Kevin Connolly, best known for his work on HBO’s Entourage, has been accused of sexual assault by costume designer Gracie Cox in a detailed new report by The Daily Beast.
The report includes Cox’s allegation that Connolly raped her at a 2005 wrap party for The Gardener of Eden, his directorial debut on which she worked as an assistant costume designer, after luring her to a back room by asking if she’d go with him for a smoke.
“I didn’t smoke but didn’t want to seem rude,” Cox told the Daily Beast. “This was the first social setting I’d been in with him, other than being on set. He led me down a hall to what I guess was the VIP lounge area. As soon as we were alone in that area, he started to kiss me. I didn’t know how to respond — but before I could even think about what to do about it, he pulled me into one of these little side [booths], and pulled down my pants, and turned me around, and within no time was inside of me. I was just in shock.”
“There was not really a chance in my mind to object or resist,” she added. “It just happened really fast. I froze and was in shock. Nothing like that had ever happened to me before in any way, shape or form. I was completely caught off-guard.”
The Daily Beast article also features an account from costume designer Amy Westcott, who also worked on the film and witnessed a visibly distressed Cox returning to the party after the alleged attack. Westcott was “immediately enraged and protective” and confronted Connolly in the middle of the party. Connolly claims the encounter was a consensual one and that Westcott was simply upset with him for being “unprofessional” by sleeping with a colleague.
“Kevin strongly supports victims of sexual assault and believes their claims should always be heard,” a representative for Connolly said in a statement. “As someone who has worked in this industry for four decades, he has treated people with nothing but respect and has maintained a stellar reputation. Therefore, he was completely shocked to learn of the allegations made by Gracie Cox from a wrap party in 2005. The incident with Ms. Cox was consensual, and he categorically denies any claim that it was assault… Kevin completely understands Amy’s displeasure with the consensual act that transpired between Kevin and Gracie 15 years ago, after production had wrapped and they were no longer working together on the movie. Kevin acknowledges the lack of professionalism on his part, but he adamantly denies that it was anything other than a mutual consensual encounter.”
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