U.S. comedian Aziz Ansari has responded to sexual misconduct allegations by a woman he dated one night in 2017, saying the relations they had were “by all indications completely consensual.”
The woman, identified as a 23-year-old photographer in an interview with Babe.net, said the date she went on with Ansari ended up “being by far the worst experience with a man I’ve ever had.”
She then described, in detail, Ansari’s attempts to have sex with her, despite her using “verbal and non-verbal cues to indicate how uncomfortable and distressed she was,” according to Babe.
The next day, the woman texted Ansari letting him know that she was upset with his behaviour that night.
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In a statement released Sunday, Ansari said he apologized last year when she told him about her discomfort during the sexual encounter in his apartment and said he believed it to be consensual.
“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,” Ansari said in the statement.
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The woman said she felt compelled to speak up after Ansari recently won a Golden Globes award for his Netflix show, Master of None, and wore a pin supporting the “Time’s Up” movement, which aims to fight sexual harassment.
“I continue to support the movement that is happening in our culture. It is necessary and long overdue,” Ansari added in the statement.
— With files from the Associated Press
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