Actor accused of sexual assault faces two possible charges in US
ED WESTWICK, a British actor, is facing two possible charges relating to sexual assault allegations that led to him being dropped from the BBC’s adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Ordeal By Innocence.
Prosecutors in Los Angeles said they were considering charges in both cases after being passed the files by police within the past month.
Westwick, 30, best known for playing Chuck Bass in Gossip Girl, publicly denied a rape allegation after Kristina Cohen, a 27-year-old actress, claimed he had attacked her at his US home in 2014. The actor has made no further comment on the investigation since November, when he said he was cooperating with the authorities and vowed to clear his name.
“I do not know this woman,” he wrote in a tweet that has since been deleted. “I have never forced myself in any manner, on any woman. I certainly
Comeback kid
have never committed rape.” The allegations prompted a second claim from Aurélie Wynn, a former actress, who alleged that a “similar” ordeal happened to her when she visited Westwick’s home with Mark Salling, her boyfriend at the time, in 2014.
Rachel Eck, an LA-based producer, also claimed the actor had assaulted her that year, on the night before the Oscars. Greg Risling, spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, said two cases had been handed over by the Los Angeles Police Department, the first on March 20 and then another on April 5. “Both remain under review,” he added.
At Christmas, the BBC removed Westwick from Ordeal By Innocence, reshooting his scenes with another actor and delaying the broadcast, preempting the outcome of the police investigation.
It was an unprecedented move for a television drama, but echoed a decision by Sir Ridley Scott, the film director, to remove Kevin Spacey from All the Money in the World, his kidnap film, after allegations of sexual impropriety were made against the 58-year-old actor last year.
Christian Cooke replaced Westwick, who was born in London and raised in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, in reshoots for the series, which also starred Bill Nighy and Anna Chancellor.