Ed Westwick, actor, accused of rape, drama ensues
8 2017-11-08 by shallowm
I don't really know who he is, but he apparently played Chuck Bass on Gossip Girl a few years ago.
Edward Jack Peter Westwick (born 1987) is an English actor and musician, best known for his role as Chuck Bass on The CW's teen television drama series Gossip Girl (2007–2012). He made his feature film debut in Children of Men (2006) and has since appeared in the films Breaking and Entering (2006), Son of Rambow (2007), S. Darko (2009), Chalet Girl (2011), J. Edgar (2011), Romeo and Juliet (2013), Bone in the Throat (2015), Freaks of Nature (2015), and Billionaire Ransom (2016). He currently plays Vincent Swan in the BBC Two television comedy series White Gold (2017).
Another actress, Kristina Cohen, posted a detailed account of the alleged incident on her Facebook page:
The last month has been incredibly difficult. Like so many women I too have a story of sexual assault, and the outpouring of stories have been both triggering and emotionally exhausting. I’ve gone back and forth over and over again, unsure if I should speak up. If I could speak. And if so, will I be heard?
I was sexually assaulted three years ago. It was a dark time in my life. My mom was dying of cancer and I didn’t have the support system or time to process and deal with the aftermath of the rape. I buried my pain and guilt to make space for the onslaught that came after my mom’s death, just three months later.
Even now, I grapple with feelings of guilt. Unfounded worry that in some way I was to blame. I don’t know where these feelings come from. Social conditioning that everything is always the woman’s fault? That a man’s inability to keep himself off of our bodies is somehow because of us, not him?
I’ve grown considerably in the three years since my assault, so to revisit is painful. To dig in and relive this night in order to accurately share the events, feels like a continued violation. My stomach is in knots, scared as hell to share this publicly, as even fully reconciling with myself has been a tough process.
I was briefly dating a producer who was friends with the actor Ed Westwick. It was this producer who brought me up to Ed’s house where I met Ed for the first time. I wanted to leave when Ed suggested “we should all fuck”. But the producer didn’t want to make Ed feel awkward by leaving. Ed insisted we stay for dinner. I said I was tired and wanted to leave, trying to get out of what was already an uncomfortable situation. Ed suggested I nap in the guest bedroom. The producer said we would stay for just another 20 more minutes to smooth everything over, and then we could leave.
So I went and laid down in the guest room where I eventually fell asleep, I was woken up abruptly by Ed on top of me, his fingers entering my body. I told him to stop, but he was strong. I fought him off as hard as I could but he grabbed my face in his hands, shaking me, telling me he wanted to fuck me. I was paralyzed, terrified. I couldn’t speak, I could no longer move. He held me down and raped me.
It was a nightmare, and the days following weren’t any better.
The producer put the blame on me, telling me I was an active participant. Telling me that I can’t say anything because Ed will have people come after me, destroy me, and that I could forget about an acting career. Saying there’s no way I can go around saying Ed “raped” me and that I don’t want to be “that girl.”
And for the longest time, I believed him. I didn’t want to be “that girl”.
I now realize the ways in which these men in power prey on women, and how this tactic is used so frequently in our industry, and surely, in many others.
I’m sickened to see men like Ed respected in such a public way. Interviewed by prestigious platforms such as the Oxford Union Society at Oxford University, where he was honored as one of their “People who Shape our World.” How does this end? Men like Ed using fame and power to rape and intimidate but then continue through the world collecting accolades.
I hope my coming forward will help others to know that they are not alone, that they are not to blame, and it is not their fault. Just as the other women and men coming forward have helped me to realize the same. I hope that my stories and the stories of others help to reset and realign the toxic environments and power imbalances that have created these monsters.
Ed Westwick denies ever even meeting her on social media, for some reason opting for a picture of text:
I do not know this woman. I have never forced myself in any manner, on any woman. I certainly have never committed rape.
People react to this in a variety of ways:
Carlos Figueredo @carsperi
Holly☇♐♥♡ @hollyllohehe
lena hopper @pauljwesIey
as you shouldn't assume HE is telling the truth without any evidence :)
= @arianascabelIo
lianne🏳️🌈 @rantingbisexual
a woman: this man assaulted me, it's been traumatic
an attractive white man: no
y'all: well, he's too pretty to lie, we still love you 😘😘😘
marcy🤦🏻 @marcyfangirly
lianne🏳️🌈 @rantingbisexual
i know, i would have put attractive in quotation marks if i had the characters
Note: She put three emojis instead of two quotation marks, when she could have just used one emoji. Plus, each emoji counts as 2 characters on Twitter. Including the line breaks, this brings her tweet character count to 143, which means she was already able to tweet with the increased character limit, so it seems like she lied about that and just didn't think of the quotation idea.
miriam✨ @moonlightmink
Sweet Edwestwick🌠 @CooTeeTiiTaaa
thali @radioativeheart
what makes you so right about it? why is so easy to believe in him and not to believe in her?
Lucy Hawkins @lulucreation
And so on and so forth.
14 comments
1 SnapshillBot 2017-11-08
You're oversimplifying a complex situation to the point of adding nothing to the discussion.
Snapshots:
This Post - archive.org, megalodon.jp*, removeddit.com, archive.is
Article - archive.org, megalodon.jp*, archive.is
detailed account - archive.org, megalodon.jp*, archive.is
denies ever even meeting her - archive.org, megalodon.jp*, archive.is
I hope he goes to jail - archive.org, megalodon.jp*, archive.is
He's innocent till proven guilty, y... - archive.org, megalodon.jp*, archive.is
as you shouldn't assume HE is telli... - archive.org, megalodon.jp*, archive.is
astonishing how a woman can be rape... - archive.org, megalodon.jp*, archive.is
a woman: this man assaulted me, it'... - archive.org, megalodon.jp*, archive.is
Tho he ain't attractive. - archive.org, megalodon.jp*, archive.is
i know, i would have put attractive... - archive.org, megalodon.jp*, archive.is
okay but she said she didnt like be... - archive.org, megalodon.jp*, archive.is
I never put you in doubt ... you ar... - archive.org, megalodon.jp*, archive.is
what makes you so right about it? w... - archive.org, megalodon.jp*, archive.is
Because who announces rape on Faceb... - archive.org, megalodon.jp*, archive.is
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1 SperglockHolmes 2017-11-08
Hollywood.
1 Redactor0 2017-11-08
He says he never met her. That makes it pretty black & white. Either he never met her and she's a liar, or he did meet and he's a liar & a rapist.
Who is this asshole anyway? He's on CW show? If he's this generation's Zachary Quinto then please lock him up immediately.
1 Ed_ButteredToast 2017-11-08
Literally who?
1 shallowm 2017-11-08
I don't really know who he is, but then again I've never heard of Harvey Weinstein or Kevin Spacey either before.
I saw quite a few people arguing about it on Twitter though, so I thought it might be worth a post.
1 Ed_ButteredToast 2017-11-08
No the post is great. I was just memeing but wait!
Damn dude! Really? :/
1 shallowm 2017-11-08
Yeah, I didn't really watch shows/movies when I was growing up, and I still don't really, so I'm not familiar with many popular culture figures like actors.
1 aqouta 2017-11-08
I'm way less interested now that I know it's not you.
1 nunast 2017-11-08
Are you literally too stupid to read the first sentence of the post?
1 i2insoo 2017-11-08
Did you not read. Ed Westwick is an actor, most known for playing Chuck Bass on Gossip Girl. Jesus
1 _Norm_ 2017-11-08
I find this hard to believe, dude is obviously a 'mo.
1 myuserisfuckingLAME 2017-11-08
I’m very confused as to why these things are happening years and years ago, and yet nobody went to the police about it right after it happened..... that seems to be a trend.
Friendly reminder about the Brian Banks case.
1 a_normal_human 2017-11-08
The clock is ticking until one of these roasties lies and gets smacked down.
1 wigb 2017-11-08
His defense should be: “im fucking chuck bass”
1 SmurfPrivilege 2017-11-08
Maybe she's avoiding any mention that it was a drug party as it would be used to undermine her claims. Otherwise, that's a pretty weird thing to do after a dinner, 20 minutes before you plan to depart.