Exclusive: George Takei’s Accuser Has Changed His Story of Drugging and Assault

RotBot · May 25, 2018

A well-researched update where the accuser walks back some of his allegations:
http://observer.com/2018/05/george-takei-accuser-scott-brunton-changed-his-story-of-drugs-assault/

"There are drugs today that may do this, but they did not exist [in 1981]," Nelson said.

I shared the toxicologists' observations with Brunton, who admitted that this made him feel better. He was probably right all those years when he thought he was just drunk. He would still never know for sure, but, Brunton said, referring to Takei, "it makes him a little less sinister."

----

I asked him to clarify the issue. "Did he touch your genitals?"

"You know…probably…" Brunton replied after some hesitation. "He was clearly on his way to…to…to going somewhere."

We shared a pause.

"So…you don't remember him touching your genitals?"

Brunton confessed that he did not remember any touching.

One activist I interviewed while writing this story told me, "If good people like George Takei get mistakenly swept up in the net of #MeToo, perhaps that's a sacrifice they should be willing to make for the cause."

Oof.

Squarehard · May 25, 2018

Guess the old discussion will continue here now.

Had no idea this thread was even made earlier today until it was posted in the old thread.

Zoe · May 25, 2018

neon_dream said:
"He was a short little asian. I was a hot surfer guy. He couldn't have got me if he wanted unless he paid for it."

I didn't like reading that.

Yeah... I debated whether to quote that earlier

Hassel · May 25, 2018

One activist I interviewed while writing this story told me, "If good people like George Takei get mistakenly swept up in the net of #MeToo, perhaps that's a sacrifice they should be willing to make for the cause."

Oh my.

pleaseinsertdisctwo · May 25, 2018

"He was 20 years older than me and short. And I wasn't attracted to Asian men." He added, "I was a hot, surfer, California boy type, that he probably could have only gotten had he bought, paid for or found someone just willing to ride on his coattails of fame."

lmfao this guy is such a piece of shit

Syriel · May 25, 2018

Squarehard said:
Guess the old discussion will continue here now.

Had no idea this thread was even made earlier today until it was posted in the old thread.

Looks like this was split from the old thread. New news and all that.

That activist comment is still garbage. Ugh.

TAJ · May 25, 2018

Oh, thank god.
This was the one that stung the most.

Kimura · May 25, 2018

One activist I interviewed while writing this story told me, "If good people like George Takei get mistakenly swept up in the net of #MeToo, perhaps that's a sacrifice they should be willing to make for the cause."

Most accusation stories, has this as a core theme, I think!

TAJ · May 25, 2018

Kimura said:
Most accusation stories, has this as a core theme, I think!

Go back to 4chan.

Coyote Starrk · May 25, 2018

One activist I interviewed while writing this story told me, "If good people like George Takei get mistakenly swept up in the net of #MeToo, perhaps that's a sacrifice they should be willing to make for the cause."

I said it in the other thread, but I will say it here too. I can't believe someone even had the nerve to even SUGGEST such a thing.

WedgeX · May 25, 2018

Kimura said:
Most accusation stories, has this as a core theme, I think!

No.

Mister Saturn · May 25, 2018

One activist I interviewed while writing this story told me, "If good people like George Takei get mistakenly swept up in the net of #MeToo, perhaps that's a sacrifice they should be willing to make for the cause."

I wonder which Resetera poster this was.

Pickle · May 25, 2018

Ruining someone's life at the speed of a social media post, and then chucking it to nothing more than a small sacrifice for the movement... what a dick whatever activist made that comment

Tuck · May 25, 2018

theofficefan99 said:
lmfao this guy is such a piece of shit

Yeah fuck this asshole. He didn't need to phrase it like that.

Claude Augario · May 25, 2018

theofficefan99 said:
lmfao this guy is such a piece of shit

What a supreme piece of shit.

Hours Left · May 25, 2018

So the guy lied for attention, and he's a racist dipshit to boot. Way to besmirch a very serious issue with your bogus story.

Also, that "activist" quoted is an absolute buffoon.

Kirblar · May 25, 2018

Good to hear about Takei, absolutely awful that he had to go through this. One thing this does highlight is that false accusations are almost always isolated. Abusive jerks rarely have only one victim and once one person comes out more usually follow. Once you get two+ independent separate accusations the odds that everyone is lying is incredibly low. Doesn't mean you should ever discount one based on a solo accusation but that if you have multiples, the odds of a false accusation go from low to nearly nonexistent.

The accuser and the activist quoted in the piece are both terrible people.

Deleted member 21411 · May 25, 2018

What a peice of shit. Although I'll be honest Im still focusing on that Howard stern interview.

SaberVS7 · May 25, 2018

Honestly, even though I believed every other accusation to come out of #MeToo, I found this one to be suspect as hell.

He's been accused of things like this before and in those times before it was proven that the accusations levied against him were nothing more than Smear Attempts by the Kremlin for his strong Anti-Russia stance as an LGBT activist.

And honestly I wouldn't be surprised if some fine Comrades encouraged Brunton to come out with this story.

Kid Heart · May 25, 2018

At least George is now getting some justice. Hopefully the news spreads and more people become of aware of this.

Adam Sadler · May 25, 2018

So paying attention to this stuff is all new to me. Isn't it possible for him to get sued because of this?

MotionRed · May 25, 2018

Kirblar said:
Good to hear about Takei, absolutely awful that he had to go through this. One thing this does highlight is that false accusations are almost always isolated. Abusive jerks rarely have only one victim and once one person comes out more usually follow. Once you get two+ independent separate accusations the odds that everyone is lying is incredibly low. Doesn't mean you should ever discount one based on a solo accusation but that if you have multiples, the odds of a false accusation go from low to nearly nonexistent.

The accuser and the activist quoted in the piece are both terrible people.

So, how do we go after these people but not in a way that scares actual victims to speak up?

Deleted member 1248 · May 25, 2018

Kimura said:
Most accusation stories, has this as a core theme, I think!

You were trash on GAF, too.

Kurdel · May 25, 2018

This is a relief!

But yikes that quote from the activist

Kirblar · May 25, 2018

MotionRed said:
So, how do we go after these people but not in a way that scares actual victims to speak up?

The problem is a pragmatic one. Penalizing false accusations heavily makes it less likely that false accusers will recant. There's no good solution, all options have heavy negative tradeoffs and it's a choice between bad and awful.

MotionRed · May 25, 2018

Kirblar said:
The problem is a pragmatic one. Penalizing false accusations heavily makes it less likely that false accusers will recant. There's no good solution, all have negative tradeoffs.

A shame but I do hope this ordeal doesn't scare away victims who are currently deciding to report their sexual assault. We need a society where people understand that assaults of any kind aren't right.

Handicapped Duck · May 25, 2018

Too late, damage is already done. Not that George will be hurting significantly, financially that is. But reputation-wise, I feel it will be a while before people trust him again without knowing the false accusation is exactly that.

pirata · May 25, 2018

I thought that this might be the case. As mentioned before, the Takei accusation didn't follow any sort of pattern, and if you look at the original accusation, the accuser seems...not so sincere. Not very shaken up about it. Like it was a trifling little topic to bring up at a party.

As a young gay man who was sexually harassed by another, older gay man before, his story always smelled like bullshit. That shit isn't funny. It's terrifying. Nothing prepares you for that. I'll never laugh it off because it was like a fucking horror movie.

manchego obfuscator · May 25, 2018

SaberVS7 said:
Honestly, even though I believed every other accusation to come out of #MeToo, I found this one to be suspect as hell.

He's been accused of things like this before and in those times before it was proven that the accusations levied against him were nothing more than Smear Attempts by the Kremlin for his strong Anti-Russia stance as an LGBT activist.

And honestly I wouldn't be surprised if some fine Comrades encouraged Brunton to come out with this story.

Out of curiosity, what were those prior incidents and what was that proof?

Typhon · May 25, 2018

manchego obfuscator said:
Out of curiosity, what were those prior incidents and what was that proof?

It's right in the article.

Batatina · May 25, 2018

I think this is why I believe it's important to support the alleged victim and investigate every report in detail - but wait for investigation results before you drag someone out in the media, and jump on the blame bandwagon.

manchego obfuscator · May 25, 2018

Typhon said:
It's right in the article.

That Takei has been accused of similar things before, and that each time, Russia was "proven" to be behind it? Afraid not.

(The Hamilton 68 dashboard cited by this article and Takei is its own can of worms, but this thread probably isn't the place for that.)

Deleted member 25323 · May 25, 2018

So not only did he embellish, he also needed to make racial remarks.

JigglesBunny · May 25, 2018

"He was 20 years older than me and short. And I wasn't attracted to Asian men." He added, "I was a hot, surfer, California boy type, that he probably could have only gotten had he bought, paid for or found someone just willing to ride on his coattails of fame."

Oh get fucked, scumbag. False accusations don't just hurt the accused, they hurt everyone with valid accusations who have to face skepticism because of moronic behavior like this.

ConHaki66 · May 25, 2018

thats disturbing

PHOENIXZERO · May 26, 2018

One activist I interviewed while writing this story told me, "If good people like George Takei get mistakenly swept up in the net of #MeToo, perhaps that's a sacrifice they should be willing to make for the cause."

I remember that tweet and it's an incredibly fucked up mindset to have since all this shit does is hurt that cause.

Zoe · May 26, 2018

PHOENIXZERO said:
I remember that tweet and it's an incredibly fucked up mindset to have since all this shit does is hurt that cause.

Wait, that was actually said publicly?

Dalek · May 26, 2018

Poor George. Of all people.

Sadly I still think this whole situation will have soured him from appearing on Howard's show in the future. I love when he's on.

PHOENIXZERO · May 26, 2018

Zoe said:
Wait, that was actually said publicly?

Something to that extent, yes... Actually, found the tweet threat in the old topic on this accusation.
Relative bits of it, click to read the full thing in context.

ErichWK · May 26, 2018

PHOENIXZERO said:
Something to that extent, yes... Actually, found the tweet threat in the old topic on this accusation.
Relative bits of it, click to read the full thing in context.

I feel like people like this hurt the movement more than help.

Deleted member 20296 · May 26, 2018

who Is that Emily cunt? Of course she's willing to 'pay that price' it's fucking free for her.

Coyote Starrk · May 26, 2018

ErichWK said:
I feel like people like this hurt the movement more than help.

Thats because they DO hurt more than help.

¡Hip Hop! · May 26, 2018

PHOENIXZERO said:
Something to that extent, yes... Actually, found the tweet threat in the old topic on this accusation.
Relative bits of it, click to read the full thing in context.

People like this are poison for equality.

KillLaCam · May 26, 2018

Can he sue this boi?

Dook's Revenge · May 26, 2018

Never doubted George. He is too good-natured.

choodi · May 26, 2018

PHOENIXZERO said:

It takes a special kind of evil to say something like that.

Dick Justice · May 26, 2018

PHOENIXZERO said:
Something to that extent, yes... Actually, found the tweet threat in the old topic on this accusation.
Relative bits of it, click to read the full thing in context.

Real easy to say that when you aren't paying jackshit. Absolute cunt.

CDX · May 26, 2018

I've thought about this article since reading it yesterday. Of course there is the lie he apparently told other news organizations about a coffee shop meeting that never happened. And the quote from him that suggests he might have racist opinions toward Asian men.

But these 3 things stuck out the most to me.

Toxicologists say date rape drugs didn't work at all how he described in 1981. And the victim himself never originally considered date rape drugs. The Cosby revelations influenced his opinion that he had been slipped date rape drugs

Brunton told me that it did not occur to him for a long time that Takei might have slipped him something.

"I thought it was just I was drunk," he said. "I didn't even start thinking that until years later when they started talking about date rape drugs. And, then Cosby and all."

...

To my surprise, however, both toxicologists immediately ruled out a spiked drink.

He has no memory of George Takei touching his genitals

I asked him to clarify the issue. "Did he touch your genitals?"

"You know…probably…" Brunton replied after some hesitation. "He was clearly on his way to…to…to going somewhere."

We shared a pause.

"So…you don't remember him touching your genitals?"

Brunton confessed that he did not remember any touching.

This is the most consistent part of the victim's story, when he asked to stop, George Takei stopped and let him leave:

Brunton had said the same thing to all three outlets on one point: that when he told Takei that he did not want to have sex, the actor backed off and let him leave.

Those 3 points combined with the fact no other victims came forward to confirm a pattern of behavior. And the victim's direct quotes about the situation:

"Did you consider it an attack, at the time?"

"No," Brunton said. "Just an unwanted situation. It's just a very odd event."

"If he came to you and he said…this was a misunderstanding," I asked Brunton, "would you believe him?"

"Yeah, I would,"

I can't help but compare this in my mind to the Aziz Ansari situation. And think about the huge amount of sympathy and support Ansari received. I can't help but feel given this info in the article, that George Takei's situation seems to deserve that sort of reaction much more so than even the Ansari situation.

Trojita · May 26, 2018

I'm happy for Mr. Takei that the truth is coming out.

legacyzero · May 26, 2018

PHOENIXZERO said:
Something to that extent, yes... Actually, found the tweet threat in the old topic on this accusation.
Relative bits of it, click to read the full thing in context.

This is why (sadly) that there should always be some small level of social due process. People like this exist. I think it's perfectly ok to separate "Always believe accusers!!" from giving every single accuser a right to freely tell their story. But there should be a cost for deliberate slander. The idea that we have to immediately burn an alleged offender at the stake, implies that nobody has the capacity to lie. Good thing is that the overwhelming majority of the #MeToo situation has been successful.

But George Takei's situation is the reason that we need to all collectively agree where the bar is, without knee-jerk, unless the accuser(s) bring substantial weight (IE Morgan Freeman. Damn, this one stings worse than Spacey). I'm sorry but I 1000000% disagree that it's acceptable for even a fraction of people to be falsely accused for the greater effort. That removes their humanity, and to me, can be as harmful to them, as you claim the accusation is. NOBODY should face ruin and obscurity from innocence.

Also, George should sue the living fuck out of his accuser for slander.

Exclusive: George Takei’s Accuser Has Changed His Story of Drugging and Assault

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