‘Grey’s Anatomy’ star accuses Toback of sexual harassment

Team Udayavani, Nov 1, 2017, 5:00 PM IST

Los Angeles: “Grey’s Anatomy” star Caterina Scorsone has added her name to the more than 300 women who have come forward with claims of sexual harassment against director James Toback. In an Instagram post, the actor, who plays the role of Dr Amelia Shepherd on the medical drama, said she had detailed her experience with Toback without naming him in an old essay.

Responding to a recent Rolling Stone interview with Toback, in which he denies all allegations, the actor said she decided to corroborate the stories of the women, who finally opened up against the director. “In response to James Toback’s crass denial in Rolling Stone, I feel I must corroborate the stories of these women,” Scorsone wrote on her Instagram.

“I want to be clear that the predatory director I wrote about in the article I posted a few days back, was James Toback. The article was written 17 years ago. Many industry people knew about it and encouraged me to stay silent. I didn’t, and it directly affected my career,” she said.

When she was a teenager, Scorscone penned an essay about her own personal experience with sexual harassment. In the essay, she wrote that she endured sexual advances from a “fairly prominent director” when auditioning to be cast in a feature film. She lost the role for rejecting the advances of the director.

She recently shared the essay, but did not identify Toback until now. “After it was published, I quit the business in reaction to the veil of silence surrounding this issue,” the actor wrote on Instagram of her essay. Scorsone said she returned to acting after finding support in showrunners like Shonda Rhimes.

Apart from Scorsone, Rachel McAdams, Selma Blair and Julianne Moore have also spoken out against Toback, who has denied all allegations, calling them “pathetic lies.” “People read things… it’s all, you know, me too, me too, me too, me too, me too.

Anyway, it’s too stupid to waste time on. It really is. It doesn’t have anything to do with my life in any way. It never has. I work seriously with complete integrity. I never, never, never have offered a part to anyone who didn’t deserve it, and I’ve not delivered when I do offer a part. My word is better than a contract,” he said recently.