Cole Sprouse Defends Riverdale Co-Stars Against ‘False’ Sexual Assault Allegations

J.W.

Some of the cast of Riverdale are the latest celebrities to get hit with sexual assault allegations.

After accusations arose against Ansel Elgort and Justin Bieber over the last several days, Cole Sprouse, Lili Reinhart, Vanessa Morgan, KJ Apa, and KJ’s bandmate are accused of “sexual offense.”

[Trigger Warning: Description of sexual assault.]

On Sunday morning, a newly created Twitter account alleged The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody alum sexually abused her during a 2013 party in New York:

@Victori66680029/Twitter

The user continued:

@Victori66680029/Twitter

Related: Cole Sprouse Arrested During Peaceful Protest! Read His Story!

But later that day, Sprouse — who Twitter users tried to “cancel” just last month — issued a three-part statement in defense of himself and his castmates (we’ll get to that in a bit):

“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. (1)”

“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. 2”

“This seems to be the latest claim in a series of incidents seeking to baselessly cancel my cast mates and me.”

Fans of the 27-year-old were quick to come to his defense, even as accusations also came out about Lili, Vanessa, and KJ. Many have expressed skepticism because they were all tweeted out around the same time, used similar wording, and were aimed at cast members of the same show. In addition, each account used an identical username format: a woman’s name with a series of numbers.

Per screenshots, the Twitter accounts trying to expose the actors all came from the same IP address as the one where Cole’s originated from:

The Hustlers star quote-tweeted her ex Cole’s post, adding in her own words:

“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. It invalidates the men and women who are-”

“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 the messages from Sprouse, though Apa has yet to publicly acknowledge the accusations.

Co-star Madelaine Petsch, who is a survivor of sexual assault, showed support for her friends, penning online:

“As someone who has been sexually assaulted, I am deeply deeply disturbed that anyone thinks that 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.”

This all comes after KJ’s bandmate, later revealed to be Alex Hooch, faced sexual abuse allegations on Friday. The user who shared her story has updated the thread to include multiple DMs, photos, and more pieces of evidence against him:

On Monday morning, Hooch issued a statement via his Instagram Story, denying the claims:

alex hooch defends himself against sexual assault allegations
Alex Hooch/Instagram Story

Your thoughts on all of this, Perezcious readers?? Let us know (below) in the comments!

[Image via WENN/Avalon/Instar & Tony Forte/Adriana M. Barraza/WENN.]

The post Cole Sprouse Defends <i>Riverdale</i> Co-Stars Against ‘False’ Sexual Assault Allegations appeared first on Perez Hilton.