Riverdale stars Cole Sprouse, Lili Reinhart and Madelaine Petsch have responded to accusations of sexual assault and harassment made against the cast anonymously on Twitter.
Screenshots seem to show at least one of the accounts in question admitting that it had made up the stories about KJ Apa and Vanessa Morgan, stating “you will believe anything”.
In response to the allegations, Sprouse tweeted: “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. 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. This seems to be the latest claim in a series of incidents seeking to baselessly cancel my cast mates and me.”
Reinhart echoed his statement, writing: “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 brave enough to come forward with the truth. This kind of lie can ruin lives and careers- and I can call it a lie because the person who made the allegations already admitted that the stories were fabricated.
“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.”
Petsch added: “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.”
Riverdale is gearing up to film its fifth season, which will begin once Canada’s safety protocols are all in place.
