Amanda Edwards/WireImageEliza Dushku says stunt coordinator Joel Kramer, who worked with her on the 1994 action movie True Lies, lured her to a hotel room and sexually molested her when she was 12 years old.
Kramer, also known for his work on a slew of other films starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as Westworld, Star Trek: Discovery, The Mentalist, The O.C., has denied the allegations, telling the Hollywood Reporter they are "atrocious lies." He said he was "floored" by Dushku's claims and added, "I'm already getting emails that people want to kill me."
The Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dollhouse and Bring It On star in a Facebook post published on Saturday that Kramer made her "feel special" and later "lured" her into his Miami hotel room after promising her parents that he would take her for a swim at the stunt crew's hotel pool and for her first sushi meal thereafter. She said that inside, he disappeared in the bathroom and emerged wearing a towel, then got on top of her on a bed and engaged in a sex act while she was clothed.
Kramer told the Hollywood Reporter that he and his team did spend time with Dushku swimming and taking her out for sushi—at her request.
"I don't ever remember being alone with her," he said, adding, "'Luring' her up to my hotel room, is just crazy."
Dushku that during their time working together, he nicknamed her "Jailbait" and "brazenly" called her this in a "sick flirty way in front of others."
Kramer told the Hollywood Reporter he was not angry, but rather "so hurt" by the actress' allegations.
Dushku said the "ever-growing list of sexual abuse and harassment victims who have spoken out with their truths" have finally given her "the ability to speak out."
"Hollywood has been very good to me in many ways. Nevertheless, Hollywood also failed to protect me, a child actress," she said. "I like to think of myself as a tough Boston chick, in many ways I suppose not unlike Faith, Missy, or Echo. Through the years, brave fans have regularly shared with me how some of my characters have given them the conviction to stand up to their abusers. Now it is you who give me strength and conviction. I hope that speaking out will help other victims and protect against future abuse."
According to USA Today, hours after the accusations went public, True Lies director James Cameron, who was promoting the AMC Visionaries: James Cameron's Stories of Science Fiction, said at the Television Critics Association on Saturday, "Directors are historically pretty oblivious to the interpersonal things happening on their set, [and] I was focused on what I was doing creatively. Had I known about it, there would have been no mercy."
The Oscar winning director added, "Eliza is very brave for speaking up, and I think [so are] all the women are that are speaking up and calling for a reckoning."
Apparently referring to the accused, Cameron said, "I know the other party...not well; he hasn’t worked for me since then."
The Avatar director also said that he regretted "the fact that this was happening under our noses and we didn’t know about it."