Accusations against David Copperfield surfaced just hours after he called for people to not quickly judge those accused as part of the #MeToo Movement.
The magician has been accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a 17-year-old model in 1988.
Late Wednesday, The Wrap reported Brittney Lewis was competing in a modelling contest with Copperfield as one of the judges when he invited her to one of his shows in California when she was still a minor. Lewis claimed Copperfield asked her grandmother, Patricia Burton, for permission to travel there.
In 2007, Copperfield was previously accused of sexual assault but the case was dropped.
His rep had no comment on the allegations, however, the illusionist released a lengthy pre-emptive statement just hours before the report was published.
Lewis told her best friend from high school, her husband, her ex-husband and Burton about the alleged incident, according to the outlet.
It was after a show that Lewis said she allegedly saw Copperfield pour something into her drink while the two were at a bar.
“I asked, ‘What are you doing?’ And he said, ‘Oh, I’m just sharing,’” Lewis said. Lewis said she took a few sips and blacked out.
“I remember my clothes being taken off,” she said. “He was kissing my face and then I remember him starting to go down my body with his face, and then, as soon as he started going down, I just completely blacked out.”
Lewis claimed she woke up the next morning and Copperfield said “nothing happened” as she “was underage”.
Copperfield allegedly made her write a letter saying she was okay after the incident allegedly took place.
On Wednesday prior to the report, Copperfield took to Twitter saying he supported the #metoo movement but asked people to imagine what it was like to be falsely accused of sexual misconduct.
more at people.com