Last week Aziz Ansari made his return to stand-up comedy after a woman accused him of sexual misconduct earlier this year.
He’s been completely out of the limelight ever since. Many people have come out in support of the actor including his former “Parks and Recreation” co-host Retta, who recently commented said she had a problem with the accuser’s story, which was published in babe.net.
In the article, the anonymous woman, named only Grace, said despite giving the comedian clues that she didn’t want to engage in sexual acts, they did anyway and she felt pressured.
But Retta didn’t “appreciate” how Ansari was portrayed in the article. “I feel like a lot of people and a lot of other outlets were like, ‘Why did you even run this story?'” Retta told Vulture. “I’m giving my personal opinion, and I don’t want f–king people coming at me. You know what I mean? But I feel like I’ve been on that date so many times. I was like, ‘If you haven’t been on that date twice, are you even living a life?'”
According to 23-year-old Grace, she met Ansari at the 2017 Emmy Awards, and they clicked due to their shared interest in photography.
After some time passed, they went out to dinner, then back to the Comedian’s apartment, and that’s where she said he pressured her for sex. In addition, Grace said at one point, she flat out told Ansari that she didn’t want to be forced into anything, and at first he seemed to understand but then later made sexual advances anyway.
Then the following day, the two exchanged text messages, and that’s when Grace told Ansari that she felt pressured.
“It was fun meeting you last night,” Ansari wrote in one of the messages.
“Last night might’ve been fun for you, but it wasn’t for me,” Grace wrote back. “You ignored clear non-verbal cues; you kept going with advances. I want to make sure you’re aware, so maybe the next girl doesn’t have to cry on the ride home.”
“I’m so sad to hear this,” Ansari texted back. “Clearly, I misread things in the moment and I’m truly sorry.”
But even though Retta feels like her former co-host was treated unfairly in the article, she isn’t interested in judging the accuser. But at the same time, the “Good Girls” actress said she would have no problem criticizing Ansari if she really felt he did something wrong.
“I’m not going to judge [Grace], because I don’t know her,” she stated. “I know personally—I had this conversation specifically with one of my good girlfriends, and she was like, ‘I don’t know how this is a story. I didn’t get it.’ I don’t want to get into it. I didn’t like it. Because I’m the first person to be like, ‘F–k that motherf–ker. He’s an a–hole. He’s a f–king a–hole.’ And I didn’t think he was an a–hole, and I didn’t appreciate it.”
