Gay Agent Fired After Sexual Assault Allegations

A gay agent, Tyler Grasham, has been fired after two men came forward alleging abuse.

A spokesman for APA Agency confirmed the termination to The Advocate Friday. "Tyler Grasham's employment has been terminated with APA effective immediately," he said. Grasham deleted all of his social media accounts and has not commented publicly.

Previously, Deadline reported that Grasham had been suspended from the agency, which was investigating allegations of sexual misconduct from former actor Blaise Godbe Lipman and television editor Lucas Ozarowski. A prominent client of Grasham's, Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard, fired him Friday as well.

Ozarowski told The Advocate that he had contacted police and is preparing to file a report with the Los Angeles Police Department. He claimed the assault occured in January 2016, after he and Grasham had dined at the L.A. restaurant Napoleon & Josephine and then attended a party at a bar called the Sandbox. There, Ozarowski said, he went into "high alert":

"Tyler was trying to get me highly intoxicated. Buying me drink after drink. Eventually I had to start leaving them in the bathroom to avoid suspicion. He even called me out on it, 'Did you leave that last one in the bathroom?'

"It gets to be about 12-1 a.m. and I wanna get back to his place since I left my phone charging there. We get back and Tyler asks me if I wanna stay, smoke and watch a screener he got from the Academy. I agree, knowing I will have to wait for my Uber anyway. In the process of calling my Uber, Tyler reaches over and shove his hand aggressively down my front pants and grabs my genitalia. I forcibly rip his hand out get up, tell him 'that was highly inappropriate' and leave his home."

A college friend of Ozarowski's, Eden Cintron, confirmed he had told her this story in August 2016, during an interview for a documentary on sexual assault. Cintron said Ozarowski complained to her of repeated attempts of unwanted seduction from Grasham.

Ozarowski, who is straight, initially came forward with his allegations Thursday on Facebook. The post included screenshots that appeared to be of a conversation with Grasham on the Facebook messenger app, in which Grasham apologizes for inappropriately touching Ozarowski.

Lipman, who is gay, was the first to voice a complaint of sexual abuse against Grasham. Lipman named Grasham on Facebook, in part due to the #MeToo social media campaign sparked by the news of Harvey Weinstein's alleged sexual assaults.

"The positive thing about the attention the Weinstein scandal has had, is it's no longer about Harvey," he wrote. "The conversation has moved on to the size of this epidemic and how to dismantle the system that protects these predators. And it's given space and courage for victims to speak up, against their abuse. This is bigger than Weinstein."

In a statement to The Advocate, Lipman said he wanted to shine a spotlight on how some gay men will abuse power in Hollywood to prey on younger and sometimes closeted actors. "I add my voice to the chorus to represent those who held no power," he said.