UPDATED 7:03 p.m. ET: In a press conference on Wednesday, a spokesman for Scott Baio said the actor denies “each and every one” of the sexual misconduct allegations made against him.
Charles in Charge alum Alexander Polinsky accused his former costar Scott Baio of sexual harassment during a press conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday, February 14.
Polinsky, 43, claimed that Baio, 57, bullied him for years with homophobic remarks, in addition to pulling down Polinsky’s pants in front of the crew of the ‘80s sitcom and throwing a cup of hot tea in his face.
“I dreaded the teasing and daily attacks on my personality,” Polinsky said at the office of his attorney Lisa Bloom, who is also representing Polinsky and Baio’s former costar Nicole Eggert in the wake of her previous sexual abuse allegations against the Happy Days alum.
Polinsky alleged that the “mental torture” began when he was 12 years old after witnessing Eggert sitting on Baio’s lap one day on set. The younger actor said he then jokingly jumped onto Baio’s lap, at which point the latter star allegedly “threw me off and angrily called me a f–got.”
In another encounter, Polinsky claimed that Baio exposed his own genitals to his young costar and then told Polinsky that he’d “never be loved by a woman” because he was “so effeminate.”
Visibly shaken by his recollections, Polinsky said during the press conference that he wants a public apology for himself and Eggert, now 46. The actress also spoke on Wednesday, apologizing to Polinsky for not speaking up earlier.
Eggert accused Baio of molesting her as a child in a tweet posted on January 27. She later filed a police report, an action that Bloom said Polinsky has also taken. Baio vehemently denied Eggert’s claims, saying on Facebook Live that they only had sex once, when the actress was 18. During a subsequent Good Morning America interview, he added, “I don’t know what [Eggert and Polinsky are] saying. I have no idea. I don’t know why they’re saying it. There were so many people on that set.”
Baio is set to hold a press conference of his own later on Wednesday.
