True Blood actress Sarah Scott accused Remember the Titans actor Kip Pardue of sexually assaulting her after they filmed a sex scene for an independent TV pilot. Scott claimed she reported the incident to SAG-AFTRA a short time after the alleged incident happened in May, but accused the guild of responding too slowly to her claims.
Scott told the Los Angeles Times the incident happened on May 16 when they filmed a post-coital scene together for a pilot called Mogulettes. She claims Pardue became aroused while they were both under a bedsheet. He allegedly put her hand on his groin, which shocked Scott.
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After the two filmed the scene, Pardue allegedly called her into his dressing room and masturbated in front of her.
“I literally froze. I said, ‘What are you doing?’” Scott, 35, told the Times. She claims he told her, “This isn’t a #MeToo thing. I’m not your employer. It’s not like I can fire you.”
Scott later asked Pardue, 43, why he did what he allegedly did. He told her she was “just so hot,” she claims.
Pardue told the Times he apologized to Scott for putting her hand on his groin, but denied the dressing room incident.
“I clearly misread the situation during a sex scene on set and have apologized to Sarah,” Pardue said in a statement to the Times through his representative. “I never intended to offend her in any way and deeply regret my actions and have learned from my behavior.”
Scott said she reached out to the show’s producers, the Screen Actors Guild, the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund and filed a police report with the Hermosa Beach Police Department. She also told her husband about the incident, then spoke with Mogulettes director Dave Fraunces and producer Mandy Henderson. Fraunces told the Times he remembered Scott telling her the story, which “shocked” him.
Executive producer Bennett Talsky said he told a SAG-AFTRA businesses representative about Scott’s claims. On May 21, Scott personally followed up with the guild and tried to get in touch with their Equal Employment Opportunities and Diversity Department. After all her communication with the guild, she felt like her claim was not being taken seriously.
“The feeling I got was, ‘It’s really not worth your time,’” Scott told the Times, adding that she was told the process could take up to nine months. “And yet that was the only thing you could do through SAG.”
Scott first filed a complaint with SAG-AFTRA on June 11, then filed a police report on Aug. 26. The guild’s disciplinary committee said scheduled a hearing for Oct. 26, which was delayed because Katherine Atkinson, the Time’s Up lawyer who volunteered to take Scott’s case could not get from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles on time.
The two sides have agreed to enter mediation. Pardue’s attorney said the actor “would welcome a SAG hearing or any other fair process to resolve this matter.”
“I am disappointed that Kip has chosen to hide behind his actions,” Scott, who still hopes that sharing her story will lead to positive changes in Hollywood, told the Times. “Speaking out about this has been extraordinarily difficult for me, and now I understand why so many people don’t. My goal remains the same — my wish is for Kip to take full responsibility for all of his actions.”
Photo credits: Getty Images
