Warning: This story contains content that may be disturbing to some readers. Discretion is advised.
Cole Sprouse and Lili Reinhart publicly denied sexual assault allegations on Sunday after an anonymous Twitter account lodged accusations against them and two of their Riverdale co-stars.
Earlier that day, Twitter account @Victori66680029 claimed that Sprouse sexually assaulted them by forcing himself on them, alone in a bedroom, after they had flirted one evening. They allege it happened at a party in 2013 when Sprouse was a student at New York University.
“I left and went home sobbing and took a shower for a while,” they tweeted. “I never told anyone because who would believe me over a rich Disney star.”
Around 10 p.m. Sunday, Sprouse took to Twitter to deny the accusations, writing: “Earlier today, myself and three other cast mates were falsely accused of sexual offense by anonymous accounts on Twitter. I take these accusations very seriously, and will be working with the right teams to get to the root of it.
“False accusations do tremendous damage to victims of actual assault,” he continued. “Furthermore, I would never seek to silence anybody. I encourage that people look into the accusations themselves, as the events detailed were factually untrue.
“This seems to be the latest claim in a series of incidents seeking to baselessly cancel my cast mates and me.”
That same day, anonymous Twitter user @Tasha93948576 made sexual assault accusations against Reinhart, and user @Alison41740595 made allegations against fellow Riverdale stars Vanessa Morgan and KJ Apa, though Twitter screengrabs by a fan account show @Tasha93948576 appeared to admit to falsifying the story to prove “how easy it is to lie.”
The @Tasha93948576 account has since been deleted, and @Alison41740595 has been suspended.
Fans of the Riverdale cast came to the stars’ defence, drawing comparisons between the allegations.
Reinhart, 23, retweeted Sprouse’s statement along with one of her own, saying she’s “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,” she wrote. “I can’t think of something more twisted than lying about sexual assault.”
She went on to say that their teams are looking into taking legal action, adding that this “sick behaviour only harms true survivors.”
Morgan, who plays Toni Topaz in the hit Netflix series, simply retweeted Sprouse’s statement.
Their co-star, Madelaine Petsch, also came to their defence on Twitter, writing that she is “deeply disturbed” by the accusations as someone who has been sexually assaulted.
Fan account @sprousecabello posted screengrabs of the tweets regarding both sets of accusations, with one tweet from the user who made the accusation against Reinhart reading: “Do you see how easy it is to lie and you guys will believe it? Vanessa Morgan and KJ Apa didn’t do jack s–t. You will believe anything.”
Global News has reached out to representatives for Sprouse and Reinhart but didn’t hear back by the time of publication.
—
If you or someone you know is in crisis and needs help, resources are available. In case of an emergency, please call 911 for immediate help.
Are you or someone you know experiencing abuse? Visit the Department of Justice’s Victim Services Directory for a list of support services in your area.
Women, trans and non-binary people can find an additional list of resources here.
—
© 2020 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.