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The producers of the Rocky Horror Show have apologised for their handling of sexual misconduct claims against star Craig McLachlan, after more cast members came forward with claims about bullying and intimidation.
Key points:
- Two more people have come forward with claims of inappropriate behaviour
- Production company's boss "sincerely apologises" to the women at the centre of the original allegations
- He says "anyone should feel comfortable reporting issues of sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying"
Wednesday's apology from Gordon Frost Organisation (GFO) managing director John Frost was issued after the ABC and Fairfax approached the company with questions about two cast members who allege a GFO manager ignored their complaints about bullying.
The former cast members, who asked not to be identified, spoke out after GFO denied ever receiving complaints "formal or informal" about star Craig McLachlan's behaviour during the show's 2014 run.
That denial was issued after a joint ABC-Fairfax investigation revealed allegations by three of McLachlan's female co-stars, who claimed he indecently assaulted, sexually harassed and bullied them.
McLachlan has strenuously denied those allegations against him, describing them as baseless, vicious and outrageous.
The three women said they complained at the time but nothing was done to protect them.
After being approached about the latest allegations on Wednesday, GFO managing director John Frost issued a statement apologising to the three women — Erika Heynatz, Christie Whelan Browne and Angela Scundi — who made the original claims.
"Anyone should feel comfortable reporting issues of sexual harassment, discrimination and bullying," he said.
"The fact that these three women did not feel as though they could report these issues in 2014 is concerning and distressing to me, and I sincerely apologise to them for this."
Cast members 'grabbed by the face'
One of the new cast members who has come forward said McLachlan had an argument with the stage managers during the show and was late back on stage for his part.
"So he came on the wrong way, at the wrong time, very fast and very aggressively and ran into me."
The cast member was injured and had to take some time off work and while it was an accident, they said they were expecting an apology from McLachlan. It never came.
Instead, the cast member said McLachlan's behaviour escalated, with him roughly grabbing fellow cast members by the arm or the face.
The cast member went to a manager to report feeling unsafe and threatened on stage and that no-one was taking any action to protect them from McLachlan.
The manager "was passive, showed no reaction and then said, 'Well, what do you want me to do?'."
A second cast member reported complaining to the same manager about ongoing bullying from a senior member of the crew.
Frost 'cannot remember any discussion around Craig'
On Tuesday the three actresses who made the initial allegations had slammed the company's initial response.
Actress Christie Whelan Browne said she had personally spoken to three people in management at the time of the production.
On Wednesday, while stressing that the women had not made a formal complaint, Mr Frost said he had "no reason to disbelieve anyone who says they spoke to one of our managers in 2014".
"However, none of our managers were aware of any issues that warranted further action at the time, and all of our employees were aware of the procedures of making a complaint," he said.
"I'd also like to say to Christie, who said she spoke to me personally backstage and told me that she was frightened of Craig, that I can honestly say while I remember seeing her briefly, I cannot remember any discussion around Craig.
"I can only explain this by pointing out that I speak to many people backstage across many productions and have little time to spend with each person."
Mr Frost also addressed the women's claims that GFO had threatened to sue them for defamation after lawyers acting for the trio sent an email with a list of complaints against McLachlan.
"While the letter we received contained some of the alleged allegations, it is impossible to conduct any sort of investigation when the names of those making the allegations are not given nor specific details," he said.
"The anonymous nature of their letter also indicated other possible motives."
Whelan Browne has spoken out to deny she made the accusations against McLachlan for money. She said she had also received threatening messages on Twitter from people saying they hoped she would get raped.
On Tuesday, Heynatz said it was the company's response to their lawyer's letter that "drove us to tell our story in the media".
Topics: opera-and-musical-theatre, arts-and-entertainment, television, australia
First posted