Comedian responds to date's allegations

Comedian Aziz Ansari has become the latest celebrity to be accused of sexual misconduct.

A woman he dated last year said he caused her ‘distress’ after repeatedly ignoring her pleas to stop his advances in his New York apartment.

In response today, the comedian said he had been ‘surprised and concerned’ that the woman had been made to feel uncomfortable after their night out, but said their sexual activity was ‘by all indications completely consensual’.

Ansari, 34, has examined the nuances of dating and sex in his Netflix show Master Of None and his bestselling book Modern Romance – and wore a  ‘Time’s Up’ badge on the red carpet of the Golden Globes last weekend, indicating his support for the fight against harassment in Hollywood and beyond.

But his former date said it was that hypocrisy that caused her to come forward with her account of the evening. Published on babe.net this weekend, it was headlined: ‘I went on a date with Aziz Ansari. It turned into the worst night of my life.’

The woman, who has chosen to remain anonymous, went back to Ansari’s Manhattan apartment after a meal, where she recalls feeling uncomfortable at how quickly things escalated.

They performed consentual oral sex on each other, but the woman said Ansari then took things too far, repeatedly put his fingers in her mouth and going ‘straight for my vagina’ as well as physically  pulling her hand towards his penis ‘five to seven times.’ 

The woman, 23 now but 22 at the time, described how he repeatedly refused to let her move away from him, adding ’I was physically giving off cues that I wasn’t interested. I don’t think that was noticed at all, or if it was, it was ignored.’

His date told Ansari she was uncomfortable, but although he said the right thing – ‘it’s only fun if we’re both having fun’ – he continued to pile on the pressure to have sex, including bending her over and miming intercourse.

After things cooled down and they sat on the sofa, she said it ‘really hit me that I was violated…. That that whole experience was actually horrible.’ She recalls crying throughout her Uber ride home and texting a friend about how: ‘ I had to say no a lot…. He wanted to get me drunk and then fuck me.’

The next morning Ansari, texted her saying the night had been fun, but she replied that it wasn’t fun for her, adding: ‘You ignored clear non-verbal cues; you kept going with advances.’

He replied: ‘I’m so sad to hear this. Clearly, I misread things in the moment and I’m truly sorry.’

In a statement released by his representative today, Ansari responded: ‘In September of last year, I met a woman at a party. We exchanged numbers. We texted back and forth and eventually went on a date. We went out to dinner, and afterwards we ended up engaging in sexual activity, which by all indications was completely consensual.

‘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.

‘I continue to support the movement that is happening in our culture. It is necessary and long overdue.’

Published: 15 Jan 2018