Actress Says ‘Marvel’s Runaways’ Star Sexually Assaulted Her
Actress Sarah Scott, whose credits include The Artist,“True Blood” and “Castle,” has gone public with accusations of sexual assault and misconduct against one of the cast members of Hulu’s Marvel show “Runaways.” Even more disturbing, Scott says the Screen Actors Guild, whom she sought out for help, has done nothing to help her cause.
Scott says that while filming a pilot in May, she was filming a love scene with actor Kip Pardue when she says he grabbed her hand and placed it on his genitals. She says he later performed a sex act in front of her while in a dressing room.
Pardue (shown in the picture above with actress Annie Wershing) is known for his role as Frank Dean in “Runaways,” as well as roles in Remember the Titans, Driven, and The Rules of Attraction.
Scott made a number of efforts to report the incident, and wanted to keep him from assaulting and harassing other actresses. She not only filed a police report, she filed a complaint with the Screen Actors Guild (SAG/AFTRA), which has the ability to kick Pardue out of the organization over the incident, and make it unlikely he could continue to act in major productions.
Instead, Scott says SAG seemed ill-prepared to handle the complaint, taking months to properly take her complaint and look into the incident. She has now gone public in hopes something will be done.
An investigation into her report to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, which could assist her in the legal process, has moved slowly.
In recounting the incident to the Los Angeles Times, Scott said “I literally froze,” when Pardue reportedly began performing a sex act in front of her. “I said, ‘What are you doing?’”
Scott said Pardue actually mentioned the #MeToo movement during the incident. “This isn’t a #MeToo thing,” he said. “I’m not your employer. It’s not like I can fire you.”
Pardue Denies the Allegations
For his part, Pardue did apologize for placing Scott’s hand on his genitals while filming a sex scene, but says he did not perform a sex act in front of her.
“I clearly misread the situation during a sex scene on set and have apologized to Sarah,” he said in a statement. “I never intended to offend her in any way and deeply regret my actions and have learned from my behavior.”
The lack of action has caused Scott to wonder if the system is really working. “How can I be part of the solution,” she told the Times. “How can I do right by my community? What can I do that’s actually going to make a dent in preventing this guy from doing this again?”
Scott claims that Delia Aparicio, senior counsel for SAG-AFTRA, told her she would “probably not gonna be satisfied” on the outcome of her complaint against Pardue filed with the union, saying it was “not really worth your time.”
Neither producers for “Runaways,” nor executives for Hulu or Marvel Studios, have commented on the incident.
