Katy Perry has denied allegations of sexual assault made against her by Orange Is the New Black actress Ruby Rose. The Australian star took to Threads on Sunday, April 12, to allege that the “California Gurls” singer assaulted her in a Melbourne nightclub almost two decades ago.
“Katy Perry sexual [sic] assaulted me at Spice Market nightclub in Melbourne. Who gives a [damn] what she thinks,” Ruby wrote on the social media platform in response to a post about Katy attending the Coachella music festival over the weekend.
“I was only in my early 20s. I’m now 40. It has taken almost two decades to say this publicly,” she continued. “Though I am so grateful to have made it long enough to find my voice, it just shows how much of an impact trauma and sexual assault takes. Thank you for seeing me.”
She added that it had been difficult to speak out about the alleged assault due to the gender dynamics at play. “As a woman, for a myriad of reasons, opening up about W-on-W [women-on-women] violence and sexual abuse seems to be 100 times harder than speaking about the male predators, at least for me,” Ruby posted.
She also claimed to have photos and eyewitnesses to the alleged event, yet said she kept them secret, as Katy “agreed to help me get my US visa”. Katy’s representative quickly responded to Ruby’s claims and fiercely denied them.
“The allegations being circulated on social media by Ruby Rose about Katy Perry are not only categorically false, they are dangerous, reckless lies,” the statement read.
© Instagram“Ms Rose has a well-documented history of making serious public allegations on social media against various individuals, claims that have repeatedly been denied by those named.”
Ruby later shared an update with her Threads followers, revealing she had sought out the local police to see if “any of my experiences” of assault could be investigated. “I imagine they are past their statute of limitations, but all the more reason to try. I have a long list,” she wrote.
© Getty Images for GWB Entertainme“I will write about the process of reporting. Both crimes that occurred when you were a child, and those that occurred as an adult (at least in Australia),” she added. “But for now, I will just say that I was surprised to find the reporting process to be ok.”
© Getty ImagesKaty has been accused of assault in the past, including by TV host Tina Kandelaki in 2019, who claimed that the Santa Barbara native “touched her inappropriately”.
© GettyThe singer hit back at these claims in a 2020 interview with The Guardian. “I think we live in a world where anyone can say anything. I don’t want to say ‘guilty until proven innocent’, but there’s no checks and balances: a headline just flies, right?” she said. “And there’s no investigation of what it is. I don’t want to add to the noise. I want to add to the truth, basically.”
“I don’t comment on all the things that are said about me because if I chase that dragon, it would be about true and false-ing my whole life. It’s distracting from the real movement.”
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