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Actor Paul Mescal recently sat down with ES Magazine and opened up about a time a woman groped him outside of Almeida Theatre just after one of his performances.
At the time, the Oscar nominee was starring in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. After one of the shows, a woman asked to take a photo with him, which he happily agreed... but soon regretted.
He recalled:
"As we posed for it, she put her hand on my a**."
"I thought it was an accident, so I like [moved away]."
That's when Mescal realized the grab was intentional.
"But the hand followed."
"I remember tensing up and feeling just, like, fury."
In response, Mescal revealed:
"I turned to her and said, 'What're you doing? Take your hand off my a**."
He continued:
"The last thing I want to do is call somebody out in front of the theatre—it's uncomfortable for everyone involved—but it was really not okay."
"It was so gross, creepy."
Mescal shared "97 percent of [his fame] is really nice—then three percent is somebody, like, grabbing your a**."
People took to social media to comment on the incident, noting the double standard at play. Had roles been reversed, people would have been outraged at the assault.
Some users think Mescal should have pressed charges.
\u201c@BBCWorld Equality for all.. hope he presses charges and she gets arrested.\u201d— BBC News (World) (@BBC News (World)) 1677158710
\u201c@BBCWorld It\u2019s assault. Police will not do anything though so pointless reporting\u201d— BBC News (World) (@BBC News (World)) 1677158710
\u201c@BBCWorld Has she been arrested yet? \n\nLet's get some equality in here.\u201d— BBC News (World) (@BBC News (World)) 1677158710
\u201c@BBCWorld Hope they arrester her, that's assault. A guy would have been arrested immediately.\u201d— BBC News (World) (@BBC News (World)) 1677158710
\u201c@BBCWorld Don't blame him. Assault is assault. Charges should be filed.\u201d— BBC News (World) (@BBC News (World)) 1677158710
\u201chttps://t.co/sXG5BDR3En\n\nMan groping a woman - Headline :\n\nSexual Harassment.\n\nWoman groping \n\nHeadline\n\nWoman groping a man.\n\nThis sexual harassment is hugely prevalent, but men don't report it, same with domestic abuse.\n\n@mescal_paul Thank you for highlighting.\u201d— Imprisoned in the UK (@Imprisoned in the UK) 1677156004
\u201c@guardian We can only imagine the fury & outrage if a man had done that to a female actress\u201d— The Guardian (@The Guardian) 1677179362
\u201c@SkyNews Sexual assault, the other way round would be a witch hunt.\u201d— Sky News (@Sky News) 1677245945
And people agreed that the act was, in fact, "gross," as Mescal described.
\u201c@ElvisAustinBabe That is horrifying!\u201d— Ziggy (@Ziggy) 1677176935
\u201c@giogiorubbish The fact that he moved, thought it was an accident and she did it again blew my mind.\u201d— Ziggy (@Ziggy) 1677176935
\u201c@ElvisAustinBabe Disgusting\u201d— Ziggy (@Ziggy) 1677176935
\u201c@SkyNews People shouldn't touch another person without permission.\u201d— Sky News (@Sky News) 1677245945
We agree with all of the above.
Mescal, who became most-known for his performance in BBC's Normal People, was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his role in the indie film Aftersun.
He will resume the role of Stanley in A Streetcar Named Desire when it transfers to the West End in March.