On Monday, actress and reality TV personality Ariane Bellamar took to Twitter to air groping allegations against actor Jeremy Piven. Bellamar claims Piven groped her breasts in his trailer while he was working on the HBO series Entourage (a show which, incidentally, revolved around a click of piggish Hollywood males). Bellamar also accused Piven of groping her on a separate occasion, at the Playboy Mansion.
Piven denied Bellamar’s allegations in a statement he gave to Deadline on Tuesday:
“I unequivocally deny the appalling allegations being peddled about me. It did not happen. It takes a great deal of courage for victims to come forward with their histories, and my hope is that the allegations about me that didn’t happen, do not detract from stories that should be heard.”
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for CBS, the network that carries Piven’s current TV series Wisdom of the Crowd, said, “We are aware of the media reports and are looking into the matter.”
HBO also released a statement addressing the allegations against Piven on Tuesday:
“Today, via the press reports, is the first we are hearing about Ariane Bellamar’s allegations concerning Jeremy Piven. Everyone at HBO and our productions is aware that zero tolerance for sexual harassment is our policy. Anyone experiencing an unsafe working environment has several avenues for making complaints that we take very seriously.”
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