Kevin Connolly Denies Rape Accusation Made By Former Costume Designer

Entourage actor Kevin Connolly is denying an accusation of sexual assault made by a costume designer on his feature directorial debut Gardener of Eden.

The Daily Beast reported today that the film’s assistant costume designer Gracie Cox alleges that Connolly assaulted her at the film’s wrap party in 2005. Cox told the Daily Beast that the assault occurred after Connolly led her to a deserted VIP area of Manhattan’s now-closed Butter lounge. Cox tells the Daily Beast that Connolly “pulled down my pants, and turned me around, and within no time was inside of me.”

In a lengthy statement released by a spokesperson for the actor-director, Connolly says “the incident with Ms. Cox was consensual.”

Cox is quoted in the Daily Beast article saying that she confided the assault to the film’s costume designer Amy Westcott, and that Westcott confronted Connolly at the party. Westcott confirmed to the Daily Beast that Cox had told her of the incident and that she did confront Connolly.

Connolly says that Westcott learned of the consensual sex and “expressed her disappointment to both.”

Here is the statement in whole:

Kevin strongly supports victims of sexual assault and believes their claims should always be heard. As someone who has worked in this industry for four decades, he has treated people with nothing but respect and has maintained a stellar reputation. Therefore, he was completely shocked to learn of the allegations made by Gracie Cox from a wrap party in 2005. The incident with Ms. Cox was consensual, and he categorically denies any claim that it was assault. When they returned to the wrap party, Gracie’s boss, Amy Westcott, learned of what occurred and expressed her disappointment to both. Gracie shared with Kevin that she was embarrassed after getting in trouble with Amy, the head of the costume department. According to IMDB, it doesn’t appear that Gracie and Amy worked together on a project since then. Amy and Kevin continued to work together for two more years on Entourage, and a few years later Amy recommended her assistant to work with Kevin on another job. Kevin completely understands Amy’s displeasure with the consensual act that transpired between Kevin and Gracie 15 years ago, after production had wrapped and they were no longer working together on the movie. Kevin acknowledges the lack of professionalism on his part, but he adamantly denies that it was anything other than a mutual consensual encounter.