APA Investigating Agent As Two Men Come Forward With Sexual Assault Allegations
Two men have accused an agent at APA of sexually assaulting them. The Hollywood agency says it has launched an internal investigation.
“APA takes these allegations extremely seriously and is investigating this matter,” a spokesman for the agency told Deadline. APA says it has engaged a neutral, independent investigator to look into the allegations, and that it is company policy not to discuss confidential personnel matters.
Former child actor Blaise Godbe Lipman, 28, says agent Tyler Grasham assaulted him 10 years ago when he was seeking representation. “Tyler Grasham, under the pretense of a business meeting regarding potential agency representation at APA Agency, fed me alcohol while I was underage and sexually assaulted me,” he wrote Monday on Facebook.
Lipman confirmed that he wrote the post. “He got me drunk at a meeting to talk about business,” he told Deadline, “and at his apartment he got on top of me and fondled me and I pushed him off without trying to upset him. It was a very precarious position to be in, not to insult someone who was in a position of power.” He said it was the summer he turned 18.
Lucas Ozarowski, a 27-year-old film and TV editor, says he also was assaulted by Grasham. He said he has contacted Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer with the story and will file a report with the LAPD today.
Ozarowski told Deadline that “Tyler did the same thing to me.” He said that in January 2016 he met Grasham at the agent’s home and went with him and a talent manager to the Napoleon and Josephine restaurant on Melrose for dinner.
“He got me a little tipsy and took me to the Sandbox bar next door,” Ozarowski said. There were more and more drinks. At midnight or 1 AM I told him I wanted to go home, but I’d left my phone at his house to charge. So we went back there and I called for an Uber. But he said, ‘Let’s watch The Martian while you’re waiting for Uber.’ I said OK and we sat down on the couch. I had my phone in my crotch, and all of a sudden he reached over and grabbed me under my pants. It really took me off guard. I pulled his hands out and said, ‘You know I’m not gay. I don’t want this Hollywood BS.’ ”
A few days after the incident, Ozarowski claims he and Grasham Facebook-messaged each other, and that Grasham apologized for groping. He posted screen-shots of the exchanges on Facebook.
Ozarowski said he decided to come forward after reading Lipman’s Facebook post.
“My name is Lucas Ozarowski, I am the victim of a sexual assault by an APA agent back in January of 2016,” he told Feuer in part in an email Wednesday. “I was groped under my pants after making it clear I was not interested in sexual relations with the party.” He added, “I never filed any charges when in California but would like to pursue them now. The abuser in question has many high profile clients and young talent and I’m worried his actions against me are not his first and won’t be his last.”
On Thursday, City Attorney spokesman Rob Wilcox told Ozarowski he should contact the LAPD. “Thank you for your email to City Attorney Feuer,” Wilcox wrote. “Please contact the LAPD and make a report. Let me know the report # so we can track it.”
Lipman posted that the recent revelations about Harvey Weinstein gave him the courage to finally come forward with his story.
“The positive thing about the attention the Weinstein scandal has had, is it’s no longer about Harvey,” he wrote. “The conversation has moved on to the size of this epidemic and how to dismantle the system that protects these predators. And it’s given space and courage for victims to speak up, against their abuse. This is bigger than Weinstein.”
Calls to Grasham’s APA office today were not returned.
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