In the wake of four women accusing former That 70s Show star Danny Masterton of rape, shocking audio of his publicist, Jenni Weinman, has emerged.
In the phone recording obtained by HuffPost Weinman, who has been the actor’s publicist for 20 years, can be heard telling one of Masterton’s four accusers that you can’t be raped by someone you’re in a relationship with.
The outlet quoted a portion of the phone call, which they say took place in October 2016 between Weinman and an unnamed accuser known as Victim B. In her police report, Victim B claims that she blacked out during a party and awoke to Masterton raping her.
During the conversation, Weinman and Victim B discussed the claims of Chrissie Bixler, who dated Masterton for 6 years and says that he raped her several times during their relationship while she was asleep or unconscious.
Victim B: “I know Chrissie and I am certain she would talk.”
Weinman: “Well, Chrissie was Danny’s girlfriend at the time, so there’s really nothing, there’s no story there.”
Victim B: “He raped her.”
Weinman: “They were boyfriend and girlfriend and they dated, and then they fucked for a year after they broke up, so I don’t think that…”
Victim B: “He raped her when she was unconscious. That’s what he does, he rapes women when they’re unconscious.”
The LAPD has been investigating Masterton after four women came forward to accuse him of rape. Two of the accusers, including Bixler, were dating the actor when their alleged assaults took place.
The 41-year-old has denied all the allegations and said that the sexual acts between him and the accusers were consensual.
When approached by HuffPost about the recording, Weinman gave them a statement explaining her reasoning:
As an outsider looking in I never saw anything but a consensual relationship between Danny and Chrissie, with whom I maintained a cordial relationship after they broke up. That said, her claims coming after almost 16 years were surprising and shocking to say the least. My conversation with any alleged victim came from a place of sincerity, and curiosity as to why they would wait and why now, it just seemed so illogical.
HuffPost also shared the recording with Bixler, who was unsurprised by Weinman’s viewpoint to say the least. The 38-year-old was a practicing Scientologist when she was dating Masterton, and when she filed a “knowledge report” with the Church, she says they told her pretty much the same thing. In 2002, she says they made her sign an agreement releasing him from any claims.
Hearing that [recording] validates what I’ve always said, that the Church and Danny were dead-set on convincing me that I couldn’t have been raped because I was in a relationship with him.
According to HuffPost, it wasn’t until Bixler called a rape hotline in 2016 that she learned what had happened to her was classified as rape. It was then that she separated from the Church, as she felt she had been “brainwashed”.
We’ll keep you updated on the investigation into Masterton as it develops.
If you would like to speak to a counsellor about sexual harassment or assault, call the people over at 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732 for 24/7 support.
