Entourage star Jeremy Piven has outright denied the allegations that he sexually harassed women on set.
Earlier this month, actor Ariane Bellamar accused Piven of groping her on the Entourage set and in the Playboy mansion. Shortly after, actor Cassidy Freeman also accused the actor of sexual misconduct in a since-deleted Instagram account.
“Let me begin by saying that the accusations against me are absolutely false and completely fabricated,” Piven said in a statement posted to Twitter today. “I would never force myself on a woman. Period. I have offered to take a polygraph to support my innocence. I keep asking myself, ‘How does one prove something didn’t happen?’”
He continues to say that he feels compassion for victims of sexual harassment or assault, but that he’s “perplexed as to the misdirection of anger with false accusations against me.”
He then raised concerns with the nature of reporting on sexual harassment or assault allegations.
“We seem to be entering dark times – allegations are being printed as facts and lives are being put in jeopardy without a hearing, due process or evidence. I hope we can give people the benefit of a doubt before we rush judgement.
“Continuing to tear each other down and destroy careers based on mere allegations is not productive on any level. I hope we can use this moment to begin a constructive dialogue on these issues, which are real and need to be addressed.”
There’s a bit to unpack here. While sure, he has a point, it’s really not the time to be making it. Women have nothing to gain from coming forward about sexual harassment or assault allegations, and everything to lose, and that’s before you even get into the power structures that prevent them from coming forward in the first place. It’s why Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and Louis C.K. were allowed celebrated careers right up to the point where brave women came forward to the media.
Around the same time as Piven’s statement was published, a third woman came forward. Advertising executive Tiffany Bacon Scourby told PEOPLE how he sexually assaulted her after invited her to a taping of Late Night with Conan O’Brien.
She told the publication that he jumped on top of her, exposed his genitals, and rubbed himself against her body.
“I pushed him off of me and ran down the short hallway to get to the door. I rubbed my chest against the wall to get his [semen] off of my sweater. I ran outside and hailed a cab and I just burst into tears. I cried the entire way back to my hotel.”
PEOPLE reports that Scourby’s story has been corroborated by a friend.
You can read Piven’s statement in full bel0w.
— Jeremy Piven (@jeremypiven) November 9, 2017
