'Silicon Valley' actor T.J. Miller denies sexual assault allegation
- "Silicon Valley" actor T.J. Miller has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman while in college, The Daily Beast reports.
- The woman, who remained anonymous in the report, said the alleged assault occurred during a brief relationship with Miller in 2001.
- Miller and his wife, Kate, denied the allegations in a joint statement.
Comedian T.J. Miller, a former actor on HBO's "Silicon Valley," has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman who knew him in college, The Daily Beast reports.
The alleged victim, who remained anonymous in the report, said the assault occurred during a brief relationship with Miller in 2001.
"He just tried a lot of things without asking me, and at no point asked me if I was all right," the woman told the outlet. She alleged that in two separate incidents, without her consent, Miller choked her, punched her, and penetrated her with a beer bottle during sex.
The allegations were reportedly addressed by a "student court" while Miller and the woman were taking classes at George Washington University, and The Daily Beast corroborated parts of the woman's story with statements from college associates and classmates.
Miller and his wife, Kate, denied the allegations in a joint statement to The Daily Beast. They also published a full statement on Instagram on Tuesday.
"[The accuser] began again to circulate rumors online once [my and Kate's] relationship became public," the Millers wrote. "Sadly she is now using the current climate to bandwagon and launch these false accusations again. It is unfortunate that she is choosing this route as it undermines the important movement to make women feel safe coming forward about legitimate claims against real known predators."
In the report, the woman said the first incident with Miller took place after she met Miller in a comedy group in the fall of 2001, when he was a student at George Washington and she was taking classes. She alleged that while having sex with Miller, he punched her in the face, fracturing a tooth and bloodying her lip.
She alleged that in a second incident, Miller choked her during sex to the point where she was "audibly choking," and then penetrated her with a bottle without her consent.
Nearly a year later, the woman said she took the incident to the George Washington campus police. She told The Daily Beast that she was directed to a "student court" proceeding, which lasted three weeks before the university told her that the issue had been resolved.
George Washington University declined to comment on the issue to The Daily Beast, citing federal privacy laws. The university did confirm to the publication that Miller graduated from the school in 2003, while other sources claimed to the outlet that Miller was "expelled after he graduated."
Miller left HBO's "Silicon Valley" in June after four seasons on the HBO series.
Miller's representatives did not immediately respond to a request for further comment on the allegations. You can read the full joint statement denying the claims below:
We met this woman over a decade ago while studying together in college, she attempted to break us up back then by plotting for over a year before making contradictory claims and accusations. She attempted to discredit both of our voices and use us against one another by trying to portray Kate to be a continuous abuse victim of T.J. (further efforts to hurt the two of us). She was asked to leave our university comedy group because of worrisome and disturbing behavior, which angered her immensely, she then became fixated on our relationship, and began telling people around campus "I'm going to destroy them" & "I'm going to ruin him." We are confident that a full consideration of accounts from and since that time will shed light and clarity on the true nature of not only this person's character, but also on the real facts of the matter. (See the e-mails referenced). We stand together in stating this is nothing more than an unfortunate resurgence of her lies designed to wreak havoc on two happily married people in the public eye.
She began again to circulate rumors online once our relationship became public.
Sadly she is now using the current climate to bandwagon and launch these false accusations again. It is unfortunate that she is choosing this route as it undermines the important movement to make women feel safe coming forward about legitimate claims against real known predators.
We stand together and will not allow this person to take advantage of a serious movement toward gender equality by allowing her to use this moment to muddy the water with an unrelated personal agenda. We feel we all have an obligation now more than ever to prevent people from using reporters to spin lies into headlines, and focus instead on what is real.
We both champion and continue to stand up for people everywhere who have truly suffered injustice seeking to have justice brought into their lives. - Kate & T.J. Miller