Simon Le Bon denies groping shop worker at signing session

SIMON LE BON has denied groping a record shop worker at an autograph signing in Los Angeles 23 years ago.

The Duran Duran singer released a statement following claims by Shereen Hariri that she was sexually assaulted.

Writing on Facebook, Ms Hariri accused the musician of grabbing her “right butt cheek” at the Wherehouse music store before he started “making his way down to my genitals”.

Ms Hariri, now 47, said she was “afraid of the consequences” of confronting the star following the alleged incident, but decided to speak out after Donald Trump was notoriously caught on tape bragging of “grabbing” women “by the -----” in October 2016.

She wrote: “If I made a scene, I’d be in the press: ‘The Girl Who Accused Simon Le Bon’. I’d probably be fired, rejected, ignored, even hated.

“I decided that time’s up. I’m not holding this secret anymore.

“I want everyone to know what this man did to me. I hope he comes clean publicly. I hope he make amends to his wife and daughters.”

She added she was not seeking compensation but did want an apology.

But Mr Le Bon, 59, said in a statement published on Facebook: “The behaviour that Ms Hariri has accused me of would have been just as inappropriate and unacceptable to me then as it is today.

“But the allegation is simply untrue. I have always been one who can admit to my mistakes and apologise for my failings. But I cannot apologise for something I did not do.”