WHOA: Jeremy Piven Issues Blistering Response To Sexual Harassment Allegation

​On Monday, reality television star Ariane Bellamar accused actor Jeremy Piven of sexual harassing her in his trailer on the set of Entourage. On Tuesday, both HBO and Piven responded, the company underscoring that Bellamar never issued a complaint despite having “several avenues” to do so and the actor “unequivocally” denying the accusation and blasting Bellamar for “detract[ing] from stories that should be heard.”

In a series of tweets on Monday that included the hashtag “#MeToo,” Bellamar accused Piven of cornering her and grabbing her breasts and butt on two separate occasions.

“Hey @jeremypiven! ‘Member when you cornered me in your trailer on the #Entourage set? ‘Member grabbing my boobies on the without asking??” she wrote (tweets below). “‘Member when I tried to leave; you grabbed me by the ass, looked at yourself in the mirror, & said what a ‘beautiful couple’ we made? Jeremy Piven, on two occasions, cornered me & forcefully fondled my breasts & bum. Once at the mansion & once on set.”

While HBO did not directly accuse Bellamar of lying about Piven, in the network’s statement Tuesday it strongly suggested that Bellamar’s claim was groundless.

“Today, via the press reports, is the first we are hearing about Ariane Bellamar’s allegations concerning Jeremy Piven,” said the network in a statement, reported by Vulture. “Everyone at HBO and our productions is aware that zero tolerance for sexual harassment is our policy. Anyone experiencing an unsafe working environment has several avenues for making complaints that we take very seriously.”

Piven’s response was anything but indirect. Not only did he “unequivocally deny” the allegation, he chided Bellamar for detracting from the claims of true victims by having “peddled” a falsehood about him.

“I unequivocally deny the appalling allegations being peddled about me. It did not happen,” said Piven in a statement Tuesday. “It takes a great deal of courage for victims to come forward with their histories, and my hope is that the allegations about me that didn’t happen, do not detract from stories that should be heard.”

The #MeToo movement began after a flood of sexual harassment and assault allegations against megaproducer Harvey Weinstein, which exposed the seamy underbelly of Hollywood. While many who have posted the hashtag have not named names, some have, resulting in a series of accusations, some of which have been against major players in the entertainment industry, including actor Kevin Spacey and director Brett Ratner.

UPDATE: A day after Piven issued his unequivocal denial, another actress, Cassidy Freeman (best known for her role on Longmire), accused him of “predatory behavior” and having attempted to do something she did not specify with her when she was “far too young.” Here is the full text of the statement Freeman posted on Instagram Wednesday:

You will deny this because, sadly, she’s deniable. The backlash this woman received was horrendous. And whether or not her accusations are true, the TRUTH is I know you. I know what you did and attempted to do to me when I was far too young. THAT I know. And you know it too. Unless there were so many of us, that you can’t remember. Predatory behavior is a chronic way for you to seek power. Do you feel powerful? With your lawyers and your networks and your die hard man-fans who call your victims bimbos? Or do you know, in your rotten gut, that you will have to lie for the rest of your life? I hope from now on, you keep it in your pants and you never get to do it again.

Bellamar’s tweets below:

H/T Vulture