NFL star Antonio Brown accused of rape
by former personal trainer
Caution: graphic details follow
© Getty Images / AFP / Christian Petersen
New England Patriots wide receiver Antonio Brown has been accused of rape by a former personal trainer in a federal lawsuit filed against the NFL star in Florida.
Britney Taylor, a former college gymnastics star, alleges that Brown sexually assaulted her twice during training sessions in June 2017 and raped her in May 2018.
Taylor, 28, has waived her right to anonymity after filing the lawsuit on Tuesday against Brown, who recently joined the Patriots after being released by the Oakland Raiders.
Legal representatives for Brown, 31, said that he denies “each and every” claim in the lawsuit and that the pair’s relationship was entirely consensual.
According to the lawsuit, Brown and Taylor met in 2010 as Bible study partners at the Central Michigan University chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
They remained in touch, and after learning that she had later set up a gymnastics studio he is said to have asked her for help with his flexibility.
Taylor claims Brown “exposed himself” and kissed her during a training session in 2017, and also alleges he “masturbated near her without her knowledge and ejaculated on her back” while she was watching a TV show at his home.
The former Louisiana State University gymnast says she cut off contact with him after those alleged incidents, but agreed to return to help him after he later apologized.
Taylor says Brown then raped her in May 2018 at his home in Miami after they been out with friends at a nightclub.
“As a rape victim of Antonio Brown, deciding to speak out has been an incredibly difficult decision,” Taylor said in a statement released through her lawyers.
“I have found strength in my faith, my family, and from the accounts of other survivors of sexual assault. Speaking out removes the shame that I have felt for the past year and places it on the person responsible for my rape.
I will cooperate with the NFL and any other agencies; however, at this time, I respectfully request that the media please respect my privacy.”
Brown is reportedly planning to counter-sue Taylor for civil extortion.
Just yesterday, the model who accused Neymar of rape was indicted for extortion, so it's possible, but I wouldn't bet on it.
The Patriots released a statement saying that “we take these accusations very seriously,” while the NFL has said it will investigate.
Ukraine hands over former Austrian Olympic judo
champion on child sex charges
CNAVIENNA: Former Austrian Olympic judo champion Peter Seisenbacher, wanted on charges of child sex abuse, was handed over to Austria on Thursday (Sep 12) by Ukrainian authorities, Austrian judicial sources said.
The double gold medallist was located in Ukraine in 2017 after seven months on the run and has been the subject of extradition proceedings between the two countries. Kiev rejected the first extradition request (4th story on link) as the statute of limitations to prosecute him in Ukraine had expired.
The 59-year-old arrived in Vienna on Thursday, Austria's APA news agency reported, quoting a court spokeswoman and Seisenbacher's lawyer. He is expected to be handed over to Austrian judicial authorities within 48 hours.
Prosecutors in Vienna issued an international warrant for his arrest after he failed to show up for a court hearing in Vienna in December 2016.
After several years in Ukraine, Seisenbacher had recently tried to leave the country twice with false documents, according to Austrian media.
He is accused of sexually abusing two girls he was coaching in Vienna from the late 1990s to the early 2000s.
He allegedly abused one of them from the age of 11, over a three-year period, according to the Austrian public prosecutor's office. He was also accused of having attempted to sexually abuse a third girl.
Seisenbacher won middleweight gold at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984 and again in Seoul four years later.
Fathom Events Re-Releasing ‘Jeepers Creepers 3,’
Despite Director’s Child Sex Abuse Conviction
Chris LindahlDespite Director’s Child Sex Abuse Conviction
Indiewire
Convicted sex offender Victor Salva has resurfaced with the Fathom Events one-night re-release of “Jeepers Creepers 3,” which will play October 24. However, Salva’s victim, Nathan Forrest Winters, said he’s unsurprised that the director’s career continues.
Fathom and Screen Media first released “Jeepers Creepers 3” September 26, 2017, when it grossed $2.3 million over two nights. That came just weeks before a tweet from Alyssa Milano that helped jump-start the conversation around sexual misconduct in Hollywood.
Salva’s crime came some 30 years before, when he was convicted of sexual misconduct with the 12-year-old Winters, who starred in his first feature in 1989, “Clownhouse.” Salva was working in a child care center when he met Winters and cast him in a 1986 short film, “Something in the Basement,” which later spawned “Clownhouse.”
By early 1995, Salva was directing a $10 million production for Disney, “Powder,” starring Jeff Goldblum and Mary Steenburgen. In 2001, he launched the “Jeepers Creepers” franchise, executive produced by Francis Ford Coppola — who also served as a producer on “Clownhouse.”
When the studio released “Powder” in October 1995, Winters protested outside screenings. In a statement at the time, Salva said: “I paid for my mistakes dearly. Now, nearly 10 years later, I am excited about my work as a filmmaker and look forward to continuing make a positive contribution to our industry.”
“Jeepers Creepers 3” also came under fire during its 2017 release: A final cut of the film, viewed via a screening link sent to critics, included a scene where two characters discussed why a young woman, Addison, no longer lives with her stepfather. One of the characters is romantically interested in Addison and seemed to understand why her stepfather would make “overtures” on her: “Can you blame him though? I mean, look at her,” the character says. “The heart wants what it wants, am I right?” The scene did not make it to the theatrical release.
Winters’ experience surviving Salva’s abuse is the subject of the upcoming documentary, “7he 6oy,” directed by Connar Frazier. The film is currently seeking distribution and is set for release October 31, possibly through unconventional methods like USB drives, Winters said. He said making the documentary has been a part of his healing process.
Two representatives for Fathom did not return multiple requests for comment.
Former Disney star Ricky Garcia sues ex-manager for sexual abuse
By Tamar Lapin | New York PostA member of the boy band Forever in Your Mind claims his ex-manager sexually assaulted him for years and passed him around as a “sexual plaything” to other industry pedophiles.
Former Disney Channel star Ricky Garcia, now 20, alleges Joby Harte of Hot Rock Media abused him from the age of 12 and throughout his teenage years, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in LA County Superior Court.
The manager used the “well-worn pedophile playbook of grooming and seduction” by initially having conversations with Garcia about sexuality, showing him porn and later plying him with alcohol before raping him, the suit alleges.
By the time Garcia was 16, Harte sexually assaulted him “on an almost weekly basis,” the lawsuit claims.
The abuse “derailed” Garcia’s career and will “take him a lifetime to recover from,” said his attorneys Ben Meiselas of Geragos & Geragos and Michael Popok of Zumpano Patricios & Popok.
“High powered male entertainment industry executives, led by his former manager Joby Harte, who were responsible for nurturing his career, instead sexually preyed on his economic and emotional vulnerability, and sexually assaulted and raped him,” the lawyers said in a statement.
The former “X-Factor” contestant didn’t tell anyone about the alleged abuse until March 2018 because he was afraid he would lose his career, the suit says. He first told Harte’s former assistant, who told Garcia’s mother.
When confronted, Harte allegedly tried to brush the abuse off as “horseplay,” according to the suit.
In an Instagram post on Wednesday, Garcia thanked his family, friends and God for helping him have “the courage to speak out against the executives who sexually abused me as a child.”
“Sadly, I know my experience is just one of many and I hope my actions today will help others who experienced abuse to know that they are not alone and that there are people in the world fighting for them,” he wrote.
AnnaLynne McCord Reveals PTSD Treatment Uncovered ‘Memories Of Child Sexual Abuse’
AnnaLynne McCord opens up about her painful past.
On Tuesday, while attending Mosaic Foundation’s first annual Gala Against Human Slavery at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City, the 90210 actress talked to People about the numerous traumatic events in her life.
“I remembered a sexual assault when I was 19 years old. That was the story I knew.”
(In 2014, the thespian wrote an essay for Cosmo where she revealed she was raped by a male friend shortly after she moved to Los Angeles to audition for roles.)
The Nip/Tuck alum also told the publication she attended therapy last year to treat her PTSD. While seeking professional help, McCord recalled “memories of child sexual abuse” for the very first time. She remarked:
“A year ago, I was in treatment for PTSD and memories of child sexual abuse came back for years all the way until I was 11 years… Now I know why this is my life and this is my story because it is so personal to me.”
While growing up, the model “believed that sex equated love,” explaining:
“Sex and love equaled the same thing… So what did I do? I wanted to be loved. I thought I had to had sex with someone to be able to be loved. It was devastating to my soul as a human being to feel I wasn’t worthy of love unless someone was taking advantage of my body.”
These days, the Atlanta-Native — who is the president of an anti-human trafficking organization called Together1Heart — strives to “make sure every single person in this planet knows what love feels like,” adding:
“To be able to be a part of something where young men and women and boys and girls have been through even worse than what I have been through in my own life [and] to see that they weren’t suicidal like I was, they weren’t cutting up their arms like I was, they were forgiving and loving themselves and those who did that to them, that gave me a way out. They gave me hope.”
In her Cosmo essay, AnnaLynne divulged she “grew up in an extremely religious and conservative family in Georgia,” where her “parents believed in strict ‘discipline'” that involved spanking with a ruler, and then a paddle.
After having “a vivid nightmare about [her] childhood,” her then-boyfriend convinced her to confront her parents, where she told them, “What you considered discipline, I considered abuse.” While her “dad cried; [her] mom seemed to be in denial.”
Years after her rape, she “thought seriously about killing [herself]” following a fight with a different boyfriend in Madrid.
“I had pills and water in hand and thought seriously about killing myself. I didn’t fear death — it felt like a solution. When you’re in that mode, you don’t think suicide is a selfish thing to do. You think you’re doing everyone a favor.
I called my sister Angel; I called my dad. No answer. I got ready to swallow the pills and suddenly heard myself screaming, ‘Stop!'”
Fortunately, her sister called, and flew to Spain to be by AnnaLynne’s side.
Ultimately, “with some professional help I forgave myself for not standing up for myself, and I began channeling my experience into something good.”
The Who’s Pete Townshend Is Too Traumatized To Perform ‘Tommy’ Again Due To Child Sexual Abuse
Amy Feinstein
Inquisitr
The Who guitarist Pete Townshend says he won’t perform songs from the rock opera Tommy ever again because it’s too traumatic and stirs up memories of child sexual abuse.
The Daily Mail says that Townshend revealed that the songs “Fiddle About” and “Cousin Kevin” from the 1969 album trigger him, and are too difficult for him to play.
Townshend explained that he last played the songs from Tommy at an event to aid the Teenage Cancer Trust in 2017, and he “practically has a nervous breakdown.” In the song, “Cousin Kevin,” protagonist Tommy is abused by his evil cousin. He is then molested by his Uncle Ernie in “Fiddle About.”
The guitarist recalled that he had to leave the building in the midst of those songs, explaining that seated in the audience was a person who had told Townshend about his own abduction and abuse by a pedophile.
“At the Albert Hall he was right there, sitting next to the stage. After that I said to our manager, Bill Curbishley, ‘I’m not doing Tommy again. If I can write songs and record them this summer, then we can talk about touring.'”
Townshend has spoken out about his own sexual abuse as a child starting at the age of 5 by his maternal grandmother who he lived with.
In his autobiography, Who I Am, Townshend revealed he was also sexually abused by someone else during initiation into the Sea Scouts when he was 10. In 2003, he was investigated for accessing a child pornography website but was cleared of possessing any images after he was found to be acting out of a need to rescue the children involved.
WBUR reveals that despite the setback and trauma, Townshend and The Who lead singer Roger Daltrey are back on tour with the rest of the band, playing big venues like Fenway Park in Boston. As promised, the guitarist has written new songs based on his youthful struggles.
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