Please note: this article deals with the topic of sexual assault, which some may find triggering.
Several members of the cast of Riverdale have spoken up to defend Cole Sprouse and KJ Apa against sexual assault allegations.
Following sexual assault allegations made against both Ansel Elgort and Justin Bieber, Cole Sprouse and KJ Apa were accused similarly. Via an anonymous Twitter account, a user going by “Victoria” claimed that Sprouse assaulted her at an NYU party in 2013.
Sprouse was quick to respond to the claims. Posting to his own Twitter, “Earlier today myself and three other cast mates were falsely accused of sexual offense by anonymous accounts on twitter. I take these accusations very seriously, and will be working with the right teams to get to the root of it.”
“False accusations do tremendous damage to victims of actual assault. Furthermore, I would never seek to silence anybody. I encourage that people look into the accusations themselves, as the events detailed were factually untrue. This seems to be the latest claim in a series of incidents seeking to baselessly cancel my cast mates and me.”
Lili Reinhart, Sprouse’s cast-mate and ex-girlfriend, also spoke out. She wrote, “I have always taken sexual assault allegations seriously. But it was proven that this account was created specifically to create false stories about me and my cast. I can’t think of something more twisted than lying about sexual assault. It invalidates the men and women who are…brave enough to come forward with the truth. This kind of lie can ruin lives and careers—and I can call it a lie because the person who made the allegations already admitted that the stories were fabricated. We are looking into taking legal action. This kind of sick behavior only harms true survivors. This was incredibly triggering for me and scary because I’ve always supported survivors and believed them.”
Madelaine Petsch used videos in her Instagram Stories to make the same sentiments.
“Today it was brought to my attention that four of my castmates were falsely accused of sexual assault, and I’m really unsure as to why anyone would ever think that that’s an OK thing to do,” she said on her Stories.
“It’s so f**king hard to go through. And as someone who’s been sexually assaulted, I have no words. This is the reason why I was scared to come forward and talk about my experiences with it, because I was afraid that someone would tell me that I was lying or that it didn’t actually happen.”
Petsch then reveals that the person ‘admitted to lying’ about the allegations, saying “and for someone to go online and falsely accuse somebody of that, only to come forward a couple of hours later and say that they were lying about four different people, is such a serious thing to do. Like honestly, how dare you.”
After posting screenshots of Sprouse’s tweets, Camila Mendes wrote on her Stories, “It’s incredibly destructive to falsely accuse people of sexual assault. Whatever point this person was trying to make about how quickly people believe what they read, it was not worth damaging the integrity of the Me Too movement.”
“It’s sickening and doesn’t prove anything except that there are twisted people in this world who have no concern for the consequences of their harmful actions.”
These statements are in response to a series of tweets posts by an anonymous account going by “Victoria.”
The account alleges that while “at a party in 2013 when cole was at nyu,” Sprouse “came up during the party and started flirting with me and obviously I was flattered, we talked for quite a while.”
After “making out” and being invited to his room, the user alleges that Sprouse “became aggressive and shoved me against the bed, I pushed back against him” before proceeding to sexually assault her. The full account is here.
If you, or anyone you know, is affected by sexual assault, we encourage you to call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit their website. Please dial 000 in emergencies.
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