Ansel Elgort has denied an allegation of sexual assault that appeared on Twitter last week. In it, Twitter user @Itsgabby accused the West Side Story actor of assaulting her when she was 17 years old and he was 20. While Elgort confirmed in his Instagram statement that he and the Twitter user had a "consensual" relationship, he denied her allegation of assault.
In her statement, which has since been deleted along with her Twitter account, the user claimed that a few days after her 17th birthday, before which the pair had exchanged Snapchat messages, the two had a nonconsensual sexual encounter.
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“So when it happened instead of asking me if I wanted to stop having sex knowing it was my first time and I was sobbing in pain and I didn’t want to do it the only words that came out of his mouth were ‘we need to break you in,'” she wrote. “I WASN’T there in that moment mentally. I disassociated myself and just felt like my mind was gone I was in shock.”
The account also alleged Elgort asked her and another teenager for a threesome.
SHE WAS SEVENTEEN. THIS IS NOT AN APOLOGY. HES PRETENDING TO BE THE VICTIM AND SAYING SHES MAD THAT HE GHOSTED HER. DO NOT MAKE EXCUSES FOR HIM. I DONT CARE IF U FIND HIM ATTRACTIVE OR NOT HE IS A PEDOPHILE AND A RAPIST AND HE BELONGS IN JAIL! #anselisoverparty #AnselElgort pic.twitter.com/NZfoTAbduA
— jonah (@JonahSchwartz8) June 21, 2020
In Elgort's response, he says the user's description of events is "simply not what happened."
“Gabby and I had a brief, legal and entirely consensual relationship,” he wrote, saying he poorly handled their breakup and ghosted her, adding, “As I look back at my attitude, I am disgusted and deeply ashamed of the way I acted.”
The user wrote that she has since suffered from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and panic attacks related to the alleged assault.
Celebrities who have previously worked with Elgort have not publicly commented on the allegation, but West Side Story co-star Rachel Zegler has liked a number of tweets about how society should believe survivors of sexual assault, as well as tweets assuring her it's not her responsibility to speak out about a man's actions.
i am muting this, but i love you. i am feeling a little lost tonight and i am feeling a little disappointed. i know some of you are, too. that’s the world right now— but it’s necessary. i love you. loving you is the easiest thing for me to do. goodnight.
— rachel zegler (@rachelzegler) June 19, 2020
"i am feeling a little lost tonight and i am feeling a little disappointed," she wrote under a tweet about Black Lives Matter on the day accusation was posted. "I know some of you are, too. that’s the world right now— but it’s necessary. i love you. loving you is the easiest thing for me to do. goodnight."
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Reps for Elgort did not immediately respond to Refinery29's request for comment. Read Elgort's full statement below.
If you have experienced sexual violence and are in need of crisis support, please call the RAINN Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
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