Actor and comedian T.J. Miller, best known for his work on the HBO show Silicon Valley, was accused of sexual assault Tuesday by a woman who told the Daily Beast he was abusive with her during their time in college.
"He just tried a lot of things without asking me, and at no point asked me if I was all right," said the woman, who was only identified as "Sarah" because she told the Daily Beast she feared retribution.
Sarah, who reportedly chose to come forward in light of the ongoing reckoning of powerful men in media and Hollywood who have been accused of sexual misconduct, told the Daily Beast she dated Miller while the two attended George Washington University in the early 2000s.
She alleges Miller choked and punched her during sex and attempted to penetrate her with foreign objects without her consent.
Miller and his wife, Kate Gorney, denied all allegations in a joint statement.
"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," the couple said.
However, after the Daily Beast report was published, Los Angeles–based comedian Lauren Ashley Bishop tweeted about an alleged confrontation she had with Miller, saying he "threatened to destroy" her career if she took out a restraining order on an abusive ex with whom Miller was friends.
TJ called the night before my restraining order hearing with my abusive stalking ex who was his buddy. he threatene… https://t.co/ZlmyVJ9pIA
"I know this girl," Bishop tweeted. "Believe her."
BuzzFeed News reached out to Bishop for additional comment.
According to the Daily Beast, Sarah's stories were corroborated by several people who said they were aware of the alleged incidents at the time. Some of them also testified on her behalf when the matter went to student court. But because of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the university would not provide the Daily Beast with information "about current or former students' education records."
"It is unfathomable to me that he doesn’t understand that he actually put me through," Sarah told the Daily Beast, adding that the ordeal "completely set the tone for my sexual adult life, that I actively had to spend years and years… un-programming.”
Also on Tuesday, Comedy Central said it was canceling Miller's animated series The Gorburger Show after one season, a decision a network rep told BuzzFeed News was made earlier this year.
Read the Millers' full statement 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, and 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.