Lost alum Harold Perrineau is speaking out in defense of his daughter, actress Aurora Perrineau, after she accused Girls writer Murray Miller of sexually assaulting her when she was 17 years old.
“So, it’s finally time for me to speak,” Harold began on Friday, December 8, in a lengthy statement via Twitter. ”I’ve been silent for a few weeks now. Completely silent. I mean what do you say when you are watching your wife not eat or sleep? What do you say when you realized you couldn’t protect your child? What do you say when your heart is just….broken? Silence.”
— Harold Perrineau (@HaroldPerrineau) December 8, 2017
Aurora, 23, filed a police report about the alleged sexual assault on November 17.
“In that silence, I noticed something. Someone — Aurora. I noticed her strength and bravery. I noticed her stand up,” the proud father continued. “Stand up and say no more! No more terror, or fear, no more nightmares, no more hiding. And I realized, I’m not watching some victim here, I’m in the presence of a warrior. A real life crime fighter who is unafraid to look boldly at some coward who hoped to abuse her and say, no.”
After initially claiming the actress demanded money from Miller, Miller’s lawyers retracted their statement and apologized on Thursday, December 7.
“In a previous statement to the media, we stated that Ms. Perrineau sought substantial monetary damages from our client Murray Miller,” Miller’s lawyers said in a statement to Variety. “Neither Ms. Perrineau nor her attorney have ever made a demand for money. Our previous above statement was incorrect and the result of a good-faith misunderstanding.”
Miller has denied the allegations made against him by Aurora.
As previously reported, Girls co-showrunners Lena Dunham and writer Jenni Konner faced major backlash after releasing a statement defending Murray. They later retracted their statements and apologized.
Girls producer Judd Apatow defended Dunham after she received backlash for her controversial statements.
“Lena is the greatest person I have ever met,” Apatow told The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday.“She fights so hard for so many important causes … She apologized for speaking too quickly, but I think many of us are in that situation. And I think overall she is one of the great people in our business fighting for very important causes. And I appreciate that.”
