Actor Christian Keyes Says ‘Predator’ Hollywood Billionaire Sexually Harassed Him

Christian Keyes, the creator and star of the BET+ series All the Queen’s Men, said on Friday that he was sexually harassed by a “billionaire” Hollywood power player “for years.” The actor stated on Dec. 15 in an hour-long Instagram Live that the alleged “predator” asked him to take off his clothes in exchange for $100,000. Keyes did not name the individual but said he had hidden devices recording their conversations.

“If you thought that Diddy s— was crazy, you don’t even know,” Keyes said, alluding to the recent sexual abuse lawsuits filed against Sean “Diddy” Combs. The 48-year-old shared the video on Instagram, captioning it, “This conversation needs to be had…”

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During his speech, the actor and model opened up about the “trauma” that comes from being harassed, and he stated that he wanted to make a statement about these experiences with “certain powers that be, that were moving inappropriately.”

“He was claiming that he had multiple young Black men on the payroll, and they just had to show up when he requested them to be there,” Keyes said, inferring that the alleged predator was paying men for intimate relations.

“I’ve done my best to forgive this person, but it happens, it happens. It’s not just women that have to deal with it, it will be men sometimes, and it will be men tempting men,” he stated.

Keyes said he preferred to take “the long way around” building a career rather than achieving quick success to “maintain my integrity.””At some point it’s going to have to come out,” he said, describing the man as a hero to many fans.

The actor then displayed an image of a pen camera. “I’ve kept one of these on me since ’05, whether it’s a keychain recorder or a pen, because most predators will check your phone,” he said. “Once the sexual harassment started, I was like, I gotta protect me, because I don’t want this person, as powerful as they are, to try and get in the way of my work.”

He claimed the recordings demonstrate that someone with a voice familiar to the public harassed him. “I wasn’t working for him [at the time]. He showed up to my apartment and offered me $100,000 to take my clothes off. He said, ‘I don’t need to touch you, I just want to see you naked,’” Keyes alleged, noting that he turned down the proposition. After the man approached him with an “offer” of a role, the actor secretly recorded the incident.

At a party at the man’s house, in a different encounter, he said the man tried to “climb in bed” with him and grabbed his genitals after he became inebriated.

As soon as he heard about Diddy’s ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura’s sexual abuse lawsuit, Keyes said he broke his silence, saying he wished he’d spoken out years ago to protect other men. “This industry is something else,” said Keyes.

Afterward, in the video, he wiped away the tears from his eyes and said that he had learned a lot about how “not” to be a boss or executive from the alleged predator. “My concern is that this person is still doing it,” said Keyes. “He’s still a predator and it’s not okay. I wish I was brave enough to speak up back then.”

Also, he talked about attempting to forgive the unnamed man, being candid, and how being “built different” had helped him break through the sexual harassment he experienced as a starving artist, despite the negative circumstances around him. “I was broke as f—. I am telling you, I would have loved that 100 grand, but I wasn’t going to sell my soul.”