Aziz Ansari responds to claim of sexual misconduct
— -- "Master of None" actor Aziz Ansari has responded after a woman accused him of pressuring her into sexual activity on a date last year.
The account, given by a woman using the pseudonym "Grace," was published by the website Babe.
Ansari's response described his perspective on the encounter.
"We went out to dinner, and afterwards we ended up engaging in sexual activity, which by all indications was completely consensual," the statement read. "The next day, I got a text from her saying that although 'it may have seemed okay,' upon further reflection, she felt uncomfortable. It was true that everything did seem okay to me, so when I heard that it was not the case for her, I was surprised and concerned. I took her words to heart and responded privately after taking the time to process what she had said."
In the account, the woman said she approached Ansari at the 2017 Emmy Awards, after which she agreed to go on a date with him. The awards were in September 2017 and the date was about a month later, according to both parties.
During the date, she said, Ansari hurried to take the woman to his nearby apartment after dinner, where she said he aggressively initiated a sexual encounter.
Through the course of the encounter, the woman said she tried to signal her discomfort to the actor.
"I know I was physically giving off cues that I wasn’t interested," she told the website Babe. "I don’t think that was noticed at all, or if it was, it was ignored."
She said she finally left the apartment after a certain point, telling Ansari, "I don’t want to feel forced because then I’ll hate you, and I’d rather not hate you."
The next day she said she texted the actor, "I just want to take this moment to make you aware of [your] behavior and how uneasy it made me,"
In her account, she claims he responded via text that, "Clearly, I misread things in the moment and I’m truly sorry."
Ansari's public statement said that the comedian continues "to support the movement that is happening in our culture. It is necessary and long overdue."
