Joel McHale Defends Aziz Ansari

The recent publication of a story accusing Master of None star Aziz Ansari of sexual misconduct has been a significant setback for the #MeToo movement. Amid criticism of the story's subpar reporting, the sketchy nature of the website on which it was published, the questionable relevance of the story, and the lack of professionalism on the part of the reporter after publication, Ansari has found a fair amount of support. That's a big change from the reaction to widespread allegations of sexual misconduct against many other men in Hollywood, all of whom found themselves almost totally without supporters.

Community alum Joel McHale became one of the boldest voices in support of Ansari this week, when he told a reporter that he doesn't think Ansari is being treated fairly.

Via Us Weekly.

Joel McHale defended Aziz Ansari after the Master of None actor didn’t attend the 2018 SAG Awards amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

“It was probably just a really bad date,” McHale told TMZ at the Sundance Film Festival on Monday, January 22. “The problem is that people will read just the name and then just the accusation, and they don’t find out anything more than that. But it sounds like it was consensual.”

The Community alum, 46, added, “The Me Too movement is tremendous and it is awesome and needs to continue forever. But if someone had a bad date, then it was a bad date.”

As previously reported, using the pseudonym Grace, a 23-year-old photographer from Brooklyn, New York, told the website Babe.net in a story published January 13 that she met Ansari, 34, at an Emmys afterparty in September 2017. They later went on a date, which Grace described as “the worst night of my life.” The photographer claims to have been uncomfortable with how quickly things escalated, with Ansari allegedly saying he was going to grab a condom as soon as they began to kiss.

Ansari responded in a statement to Us Weekly on January 14, confirming that he had met Grace but that he believed their encounter was consensual. 

“The next day, I got a text from her saying that although ‘it may have seemed OK,’ upon further reflection, she felt uncomfortable,” the Parks and Rec alum said at the time. “It was true that everything did seem OK to me, so when I heard that it was not the case for her, I was surprised and concerned. I took her words to heart and responded privately after taking the time to process what she had said. I continue to support the movement that is happening in our culture. It is necessary and long overdue.”

Get the rest of the story at Us Weekly.

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