Timothy Hutton denies raping a 14-year-old Canadian girl in 1983
On Monday, Buzzfeed published a lengthy, exclusive article, with an interview with a woman who says that Timothy Hutton raped her when she was 14 years old. The woman – who goes by Lauren – says that in 1983 in Vancouver, she and two of her junior high school friends met Hutton while he was in town filming Iceman. Hutton and another man invited the girls to Hutton’s hotel, and then to his hotel suite. The girls went. Hutton and his friend served them alcohol and then Hutton took Lauren to the bedroom in his suite and raped her, with the second man watching and participating. You can read her story here at Buzzfeed – it’s absolutely appalling and disturbing.
Buzzfeed spoke to people around Lauren at the time and they remember her telling them that Hutton had raped her. She remembers clearly saying no, saying stop, and trying to leave. Buzzfeed contacted Hutton obviously and they got his explicit denial, and they point out that Hutton has hired “two law firms and three spokespeople” to counter Lauren’s claims. Hutton’s people were blanketing media outlets with his denial too. Here’s the one they gave to People Magazine:
Hutton denied the allegations in a statement obtained by PEOPLE, in which he said, “For the past two-and-a-half years, I have been the target of multiple extortion attempts by a woman named Sera Dale Johnston to extract millions of dollars from me.”
“She threatened that if I did not meet her demands, she would go to the press with a false allegation that I sexually assaulted her 37 years ago in Canada,” Hutton continued. “I never assaulted Ms. Johnston.”
“Today, BuzzFeed chose to publish Ms. Johnston’s false story. BuzzFeed knew the truth because they were provided with documented evidence. What’s really going on here is that Ms. Johnston’s extortion attempts failed,” Hutton said. “She then decided to follow through on her threat to go to the press with her false story. When I became aware of this, I went to the FBI, signed a sworn statement and filed a criminal complaint against Ms. Johnston for extortion.”
He added, “I will not stop fighting to expose this story for what it is — a failed extortion attempt based on something that never happened.”
“BuzzFeed knew the truth because they were provided with documented evidence.” In their article, Buzzfeed noted that “the actor’s representatives have provided BuzzFeed News with an extensive array of information, including a 91-page letter (which they said may not be quoted), meant to discredit Johnston and halt this article.” I… don’t understand any of this from Hutton’s point of view. If he legitimately has evidence that this is merely an extortion attempt, blast that evidence everywhere. I don’t know. This whole story is so profoundly disturbing.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
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