A 23-year-old New York photographer has spoken out about a distressing experience with comedy actor Aziz Ansari, saying he sexually harassed her after a date, on "the worst night of her life".
Grace (not her real name) told Babe she met Ansari during the 2017 awards season, when they flirted at an Emmys after party.
She says they exchanged numbers and decided to go on a date.
Although she was excited for the date with the Parks and Recreation star, the photographer says the night turned out to be the opposite of a good time. She says the pair had a rushed dinner, where it felt like "Ansari was eager for them to leave".
"Like, he got the cheque and then it was bada-boom, bada-bing, we're out of there," she told Babe.
She then says they walked back to his apartment, and started kissing.
"In a second, his hand was on my breast."
Grace details how the actor and comedian continuously moved towards having sex with her, including "going to grab a condom within minutes of their first kiss" and sticking his fingers down her throat before performing a sex act on her. She says she used continual verbal and non-verbal indicators that she was uncomfortable, and eventually told him she didn't "want to feel forced".
He then allegedly motioned for her to perform a sex act on him.
Babe published text messages allegedly from the day after the encounter, in which Grace wrote a long message to Ansari, saying: "I just want to take this moment to make you aware of [your] behaviour and how uneasy it made me."
To that message, Ansari allegedly responded: "Clearly, I misread things in the moment and I'm truly sorry."
Grace says it took her a long time to move through the incident, and "validate [it] as sexual assault".
She says watching him win at the Golden Globes earlier this month was difficult, especially as he declared his support for the fight against sexual assault and harassment by wearing a "Time's Up" pin on the red carpet.
"It was actually painful to watch him win and accept an award, and absolutely cringeworthy that he was wearing the Time's Up pin," she says. "I think that started a new fire, and it made it more real."
She told Babe: "I believe that I was taken advantage of by Aziz. I was not listened to and ignored. It was by far the worst experience with a man I've ever had."
The website has reached out to Ansari's people for comment.
Newshub.
