The Daily Beast reports that a woman who attended George Washington University with comedian T.J. Miller, has accused him of sexual and physical abuse. Since then, another woman has come forward, accusing Miller of spiking her drink, and Comedy Central has canceled his series The Gorburger Show, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The original accuser, who wishes to be unnamed and is referred to by The Daily Beast as “Sarah,” has stayed silent all these years in fear of retribution, but says she found courage in the wake of the countless Hollywood sexual assault allegations. She and Miller had been in the same comedy troupe in college. She dated Miller for a short time in 2001, when she claims he punched her in the mouth, choked her without consent and sexually assaulted her.
“We started to fool around, and very early in that, he put his hands around my throat and closed them, and I couldn’t breathe,” Sarah told The Daily Beast. “I was genuinely terrified and completely surprised. I understand now that this is for some people a kink, and I continue to believe it is [something] that should be entered into by consenting parties. But, as someone who had only begun having sexual encounters, like, about three months earlier, I had no awareness this was a kink, and I had certainly not entered into any agreement that I would be choked.”
The Daily Beast reports that at the time, her roommates told the student court at GWU during an investigation that they had heard a lot of violent thudding and had seen bruises on her. They stopped to ask her if she was alright and offered to take her to the police, which she declined. The university expelled him after he graduated, in an attempt to “please both parties.”
Miller and his wife have released a statement claiming it’s “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.”
Later, Twitter user @darent85 came forward with her own account of Miller’s behavior, detailing an incident in which Miller drugged her drink at a bar. Five to six years ago, she says she was at an open mic night with friends when Miller began to hit on her. She stepped outside when she thought her friend would be guarding her drink, but when she came back, the bartender told her Miller had been tampering with it.
I’ve been encouraged to publicly share my story. So if you’re ever talking about TJ Miller to me and I exclaim “Fuck that guy” this is why. pic.twitter.com/IgYyN6m2cZ
— Dalia (@darent85) December 19, 2017
“The whole time Miller watched me and asked me at least three times how I was feeling,” Dalia wrote in her tweet. “I can only assume it was to see if any drugs that had been flipped me had taken effect.”
After these allegations broke, Comedy Central canceled The Gorburger Show after one season — although a Comedy Central representative says the decision came before the allegations. The animated show starred and was produced by Miller, and ran from April 9 to June 4 this year. However, Miller still has many film releases coming up including Ready Player One, How to Train Your Dragon 3, Underwater and Deadpool 2.
Miller has reportedly joked about assaulting women in private to many of his fellow comedians. He even has allegedly made jokes about punching a woman in college. Other female comedians have warned each other about Miller’s abusive past over the years, and as a result, many female comedians have refused to work with Miller.
T.J. Miller is now another celebrity on a long list of those with sexual assault allegations against them. Something must be done to stop this endless pain of sexual abuse, so hopefully we can see a safer, happier future for women.