Actress- director #MeToo spokeswoman Asia Argento’s accuser, Jimmy Bennett, now 22, issued a statement to the New York Times today. The Times reported this week that Argento paid Bennett $380,000 to keep quiet about her sexual attack on him when he was 17. Argento initially denied it, but then texts and other information were revealed showing she’d admitted it. One of her defenses it that she didn’t know he was underage. This seems specious considering she’d once played his mother in a movie when he was six years old.
Argento is largely throwing her deceased boyfriend Anthony Bourdain under the bus, crediting him for the cover up. Basically, she’s thrown him under the bus and then backed the bus over him. Bourdain committed suicide on June 8th after defending Argento, supporting her, putting his lawyer and resources behind her, etc. Bourdain is the victim here, and no one is speaking for him.
Bennett’s statement:
“Many brave women and men have spoken out about their
own experiences during the #metoo movement, and I
appreciate the bravery that it took for each and every one
of them to take such a stand. I did not initially speak out
about my story because I chose to handle it in private with
the person who wronged me. My trauma resurfaced as she
came out as a victim herself. I have not made a public
statement in the past days and hours because I was
ashamed and afraid to be part of the public narrative. I was
underage when the event took place, and I tried to seek
justice in a way that made sense to me at the time because
I was not ready to deal with the ramifications of my story
becoming public. At the time I believed there was still a
stigma to being in the situation as a male in our society.
I didn’t think that people would understand the event that
took place from the eyes of a teenage boy. I have had to
overcome many adversities in my life, and this is another
that I will deal with, in time. I would like to move past this
event in my life, and today I choose to move forward, no
longer in silence”
