Cole & Lili Deny The Sexual Assault Allegations Against Them
After sexual assault allegations against Riverdale stars Cole Sprouse, Lili Reinhart, KJ Apa, and Vanessa Morgan circulated on Twitter on June 21, Sprouse and Reinhart denied the sexual assault rumors in a series of tweets published that same day. They claimed the allegations against them are "untrue," and note that "false accusations of sexual assault are incredibly hurtful to survivors." (Reinhart has previously shared that she survived being sexually assaulted by a man she worked with when she was 16.)
Sprouse was accused by the newly-created Twitter account @Victori66680029. The Twitter user claims they met the actor at a party in 2013 and he reportedly invited her to his room. The claim continues, alleging Sprouse was was "aggressive," fondled their breasts, and undid their pants. "I never told anyone because who would believe me over a rich Disney star," the user tweeted.
Sprouse claimed these allegations are false. "I take these accusations very seriously, and will be working with the right teams to get to the root of it," the Suite Life of Zack & Cody star wrote on Twitter. "False accusations do tremendous damage to victims of actual assault. Furthermore, I would never seek to silence anybody. I encourage that people look into the accusations themselves, as the events detailed were factually untrue."
No further statements have been made by the user behind the account @Victori66680029.
On June 21, screenshots captured by Twitter user @sprousecabello appear to show tweets from two more Twitter users who claim to have been sexually assaulted by Reinhart and Apa. The screenshots accuse Reinhart of allegedly fondling Twitter user below the waist while they took a photo together, and @Alison41740595 accused Apa of allegedly sexually assaulted her in January 2019.
A third screenshot appears to show @Tasha93948576 confirming the original accusations against Reinhart and Apa were untrue, writing, "Do you see how easy it is to lie and you guys will believe it? Vanessa Morgan and Kj Apa didn't do jack sh*t. You will believe anything."
As of June 22, @Tasha93948576's account appears to have been deleted, and @Alison41740595's account has been suspended.
Reinhart took to Twitter to defend herself, saying, "I have always taken sexual assault allegations seriously. But it was proven that this account was created specifically to create false stories about me and my cast. I can’t think of something more twisted than lying about sexual assault," she wrote. "It invalidates the men and women who are [b]rave enough to come forward with the truth. This kind of lie can ruin lives and careers- and I can call it a lie because the person who made the allegations already admitted that the stories were fabricated."
As of June 22, there has been no official comment from the account alleging abuse by Reinhart that the accusations are false.
Reinhart added, "We are looking into taking legal action. This kind of sick behavior only harms true survivors. This was incredibly triggering for me and scary because I’ve always supported survivors and believed them... I hope and pray that this does not discourage real survivors from speaking out about their experiences."
Morgan retweeted Sprouse's statement and retweeted a show of support from fellow Riverdale star Madelaine Petsch, but did not make a public statement of her own. On June 21, Petsch wrote, "As someone who has been sexually assaulted, I am deeply deeply disturbed that anyone thinks it is okay to falsely accuse someone of sexual assault. This is why real assault allegations can sometimes not be taken seriously, you should be ashamed. This is disgusting."
Apa has not publicly acknowledged the incident. Elite Daily reached out to reps for Apa and Morgan for comment on the tweets, and did not hear back in time for publication.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit online.rainn.org.
