https://www.thewrap.com/girls-murray-miller-aurora-perrineau-harold-perrineau-lost-oz/
Aurora Perrineau, the daughter of Lost star Harold Perrineau, says she filed a police report today accusing Miller of raping her in 2012, when she was 17 and he was 35. Miller is credited with writing seven Girls episodes. He’s also written for King of the Hill and American Dad. Miller’s attorney, Matthew Walerstein, said Miller “categorically and vehemently denies Ms. Perrineau’s outrageous claims” and said his legal team had “gathered overwhelming evidence directly contradicting these false and offensive claims.”
Lena Dunham under fire for defending Girls writer accused of rape three months after tweeting "women don’t lie about" rape (https://www.mediaite.com/online/twitter-blasts-lena-dunham-for-supporting-girls-writer-accused-of-sexual-assault/)
Dunham has been a staunch advocate (http://people.com/crime/lena-dunham-dedicates-sexual-assault-psa-to-brave-survivor-at-stanford/) on behalf of sexual assault survivors, even tweeting on August 4 (https://twitter.com/lenadunham/status/893566035638407168): “Things women do lie about: what the ate for lunch. Things women don’t lie about: rape.” Yet Dunham is being slammed on Twitter for fully supporting (https://www.thewrap.com/lena-dunham-defends-girls-writer-accused-rape-stand-murray/) Girls writer Murray Miller, whom actress Aurora Perrineau is accusing of raping her (https://www.tvtattle.com/item/Girls-writer-Murray-Miller-is-accused-of-raping-Harold-Perrineau-s-actress-daughter-Aurora-Perrineau-olSX4a) in 2012, when she was 17 and he was 35. Dunham cited “our insider knowledge of Murray’s situation” to determine that “sadly this accusation is one of the 3 percent of assault cases that are misreported every year.” As Yesha Callahan argues, “of course this will now play out in the court system, but one has to wonder why is Dunham now rushing to give her friend the benefit of the doubt (http://www.theroot.com/lena-dunham-is-trash-1820565772?rev=1510976441913)?”
JamesG
11-19-2017, 04:39 PM
Lena Dunham Apologizes for Murray Miller Defense Amid Assault Allegations
by Bruce Haring
November 18, 2017
Lena Dunham has backed down and apologized for defending "Girls" writer Murray Miller, who is being investigated for sexually assaulting actress Aurora Perrineau when she was age 17.
Dunham issued a long tweet on Friday supporting Miller, adding "Girls" executive producer Jenni Konner’s name as another ally of Miller.
“We believe, having worked closely with [Miller] for more than half a decade, that this is the case with Murray Miller. While our first instinct is to listen to every woman’s story, our insider knowledge of Murray’s situation makes us confident that sadly this accusation is one of the 3 percent of assault cases that are misreported every year.”
After withering criticism, Dunham has had a change of heart.
As feminists, we live and die by our politics, and believing women is the first choice we make every single day when we wake up. Therefore I never thought I would issue a statement publically (sic) supporting someone accused of sexual assault, but I naively believed it was important to share my perspective on my friend’s situation as it has transpired behind the scenes over the last few months.
I now understand that it was absolutely the wrong time to come forward with such a statement and I am so sorry. We have been given the gift of powerful voices and by speaking out we were putting our thumb on the scale and it was wrong. We regret this decision with every fiber of our being.
Every woman who comes forward deserves to be heard, fully and completely, and our relationship to the accused should not be part of the calculation anyone makes when examining her case. Every person and every feminist should be required to hear her. Under patriarchy, “I believe you” is essential. Until we are all believed, none of us will be believed. We apologize to any women who have been disappointed.
Sgt. Salvador Rios of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s told Deadline that Perrineau filed a sexual assault complaint against Miller at its West Hollywood Station. The case will be turned over the LAPD for an investigation.
Through his lawyer, Miller has denied the allegations.
“Mr. Miller categorically and vehemently denies Ms. Perrineau’s outrageous claims,” attorney Matthew Walerstein said in a statement to Deadline.
“After being contacted several weeks ago by lawyers who — on Ms. Perrineau’s behalf — sought substantial monetary damages from him, Mr. Miller’s legal team gathered overwhelming evidence directly contradicting these false and offensive claims. Only after her demands for money were rebuffed did Ms. Perrineau go to the police. Mr. Miller looks forward to sharing all evidence and information with any and all authorities seeking the truth in this matter.”
Reached by Deadline, HBO did not have a statement on the matter.
http://deadline.com/2017/11/lena-dunham-apologizes-murray-miller-assault-defense-1202211724/
Judd Apatow defends Lena Dunham’s response to Girls writer’s rape accusation (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/rambling-reporter/judd-apatow-defends-lena-dunhams-response-girls-writer-harassment-accusations-1064726)
"We’re all kind of trying to figure out how to navigate this best,” said the Girls executive producer. “It affects all of our lives and touches all of our lives in all different ways. She apologized for speaking too quickly, but I think many of us are in that situation. And I think overall she is one of the great people in our business fighting for very important causes. And I appreciate that.”
Harold Perrineau reacts to accusation a Girls writer raped his daughter: “YOU HAVE FU*KED WITH THE WRONG FAMILY!!!” (http://ew.com/tv/2017/12/08/harold-perrineau-girls-writer-sexual-assault/)
“I’ve been silent for a few weeks now. Completely silent,” the former Lost star and father of accuser Aurora Perrineau said in a statement posted on Twitter. “I mean what do you say when you are watching your wife not eat or sleep? What do you say when you realized you couldn’t protect your child? What do you say when your heart is just…broken? Silence.” He added: “I realized I’m not watching some victim here, I’m in the presence of a warrior. A real life crime fighter who is unafraid to look boldly at some coward who hoped to abuse her and say, no.”
MTV Movie & TV Awards under fire for hiring of former Girls writer who was accused of rape (https://www.thewrap.com/inside-mtv-movie-awards-murray-miller-joke-writer-rape/)
Prosecutors declined to charge Murray Miller (https://www.thewrap.com/murray-miller-no-charges-aurora-perrineau-girls-lena-dunham/) after actress Aurora Perrineau accused him (https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/murray-miller-girls-sexual-assault-aurora-perrineau-1202617987/) of sexually assaulting her when she was underage. Still, her dad, actor Harold Perrineau (https://twitter.com/HaroldPerrineau/status/1140925195349364736), questioned why he was on the award show's writing staff. “Did you really hire Murray Miller as a writer after (he was) accused of raping a minor?” he tweeted the morning after the MTV Movie & TV Awards. Meanwhile, The Wrap reports that many of the award show's writers had no idea of Murray's involvement since he reported to the show's director and producer, Joel Gallan, who has known him for 20 years. “I do not like that I share credits with him,” one writer for the show told TheWrap, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “I don’t like the idea that people might think that I actually worked with him. And I know for a fact that L.A. isn’t running low on comedy writers — there are a lot of people who never sexually assaulted anyone who would love to have that job. A lot of them are women.”