HBO pulls James Veitch comedy special following rape allegations

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HBO has pulled a comedy special by James Veitch in light of a number of sexual assault and rape allegations.

The British comedian was dropped by his agency, WME, and edited out of a Quibi series he was due to host, following an exposé published by The Hollywood Reporter in which several graduates from Sarah Lawrence college made allegations about their experiences with Veitch.

The comedy special was released on August 20 on HBO Max, but has since been removed. The streaming platform said in a statement, “We were deeply disturbed to learn of these allegations of unacceptable behavior by James Veitch and will be removing the special from our platform for now.”

The news broke when Meghan Klien, one of the accusers, tweeted in July upon hearing news of Veitch’s special, “It was common knowledge to stay away from him when I was an undergrad… It makes my skin crawl to see someone like that succeed knowing how much he violated my classmates. #creep”

Klien deleted her tweet and decided to then contact a friend, who shared similar experiences. A network built from there in which dozens of women came forward first on a Facebook group and then via interviews for THR.

“Our little network started bringing in stories left and right,” Klien said “In just that first couple of days, I think I got three stories of rape and two of assault. What kept me going was my connection to these women — every woman that I talked to that first day I knew personally.”

Veitch declined to comment for the exposé, while according to the Hollywood Reporter a source said he denies all allegations. Quibi declined to comment regarding their decision.

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