Comedian Aziz Ansari has responded to a report in which a woman recalled a date with him, which she called "worst night of my life" and accuses him of sexual assault. On Saturday, a piece was published on Babe.net about a woman identified as 'Grace', who detailed a date with the Master of None star and her alleged experience with him.
Ansari responded at night with a statement issued to news outlets, saying: "In September of last year, I met a woman at a party. We exchanged numbers. We texted back and forth and eventually went on a date. "We went out to dinner, and afterwards we ended up engaging in sexual activity, which by all indications was completely consensual." "The next day, I got a text from her saying that although ‘it may have seemed okay,’ upon further reflection, she felt uncomfortable. It was true that everything did seem okay to me, so when I heard that it was not the case for her, I was surprised and concerned. I took her words to heart and responded privately after taking the time to process what she had said."
"I continue to support the movement that is happening in our culture. It is necessary and long overdue," he concluded. In the initial piece, the writer pointed out Ansari's support of the Time's Up movement at this year's Golden Globes.
In the first-person piece, Grace says she met the actor at an Emmy party in September of last year and went on a date, after which they went to his apartment and engaged in sexual activities. She says she was "physically giving off cues that I wasn't interested".
"Most of my discomfort was expressed in me pulling away and mumbling. I know that my hand stopped moving at some points," she said. "I stopped moving my lips and turned cold." "I know I was physically giving off cues that I wasn’t interested. I don’t think that was noticed at all, or if it was, it was ignored."
'Grace' also shared a screengrab of an alleged text conversation between the two the following day after Ansari messaged her first.
"Last night might've been fun for you, but it wasn't for me. You ignored clear non-verbal cues; you kept going with advances."
He allegedly responds to the message: "I’m so sad to hear this. All I can say is, it would never be my intention to make you or anyone feel the way you described. Clearly, I misread things in the moment and I’m truly sorry."
Ansari's comedy routine is filled with material on modern dating and he even wrote a book called Modern Romance.