The actress challenged men to speak up as the prosecutor who declined charges in 2024 defended his decision, before the case went to New York’s attorney general
Actress Florence Pugh has challenged men to speak out about a lawsuit alleging a 2024 gang rape at a Cornell University fraternity, as the district attorney who declined to bring charges defended that decision before the case was handed to New York’s attorney general.
“How can you expect us to trust that it’s ‘not all men’ when in moments like this, many of you stay quiet?” Pugh wrote on Instagram, Newsweek reported.
A former student, identified in court papers as Jane Doe, alleges in a civil suit filed Sept. 16 that seven Chi Phi fraternity members sexually assaulted her on the night of Oct. 19, 2024. All seven men deny wrongdoing, and none has been charged with a crime.
Florence Pugh and Other Stars Speak Out
Pugh said she felt “uneasy and sick and anxious” after reading about the case. “You need to be leading conversations about how we change the allowance and complicity of this behaviour as much as we are,” she wrote to men.
Other celebrities who have backed survivors pushing for accountability also weighed in. Mariska Hargitay and her Joyful Heart Foundation posted, “Survivors deserve to be believed and kept informed. Silence protects no one.”
Actor Josh Gad wrote that the accused had “lost the right to a future when they stole a future from a helpless young woman,” according to Newsweek.
Not every reaction backed the lawsuit. Sunny Hostin said on *The View* that photos of men who have not been charged were being spread online. “I think people are reporting this story inaccurately,” she said.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke at a forum near the campus on Sept. 27. “When I read what happened at Cornell, those men posted in a group chat. That means it was normal to them,” she said, the Associated Press reported.
DA Van Houten Defends His 2024 Decision
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten declined to bring charges in November 2024. He relied on a six-page sworn statement the woman gave Cornell police, which he said described her drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary.
“She never says that she was drugged without her knowledge. She admits to taking drugs and alcohol voluntarily and with knowledge,” Van Houten said in a Sept. 28 statement, ABC News reported.
He called the behavior of some fraternity members “without question disgusting and morally reprehensible,” but added that “criminal prosecutions must be based upon evidence and not emotion.”
“If what was said on social media about this case was true, those fraternity members would be in prison right now,” he told ABC News, The National News Desk reported.
He also reopened the case that day and said he would take it to a grand jury. Two days later, CBS News New York told him that in a longer interview transcript, she had said she was 100% confident she was raped.
“That wasn’t information that I had, first of all. Second of all, that is a legal conclusion,” Van Houten said. He added that the transcript “changes the landscape for me.”
Her lawyer, Thomas Giuffra, told CBS the prosecutor “seems more interested in protecting his reputation as opposed to seeking justice.”
Trump, Hochul and James Weigh In
Gov. Kathy Hochul removed Van Houten from the case by executive order on Oct. 1 and named Attorney General Letitia James special prosecutor. “How is this woman denied justice?” Hochul asked at a news conference, ABC News reported.
Van Houten said he supported the move. “It has become clear that we were not provided the full picture by the University,” he said.
Hochul also called for a change to state law. “Voluntary intoxication is not a license for sexual assault or gang rape. Period,” she said. Other lawmakers have recently pushed for tougher penalties for rape.
Asked about the appointment on Oct. 2, President Donald Trump called James corrupt and said, “I feel badly for whoever she’s looking at because they won’t get a fair shake.” James sued Trump for civil fraud in 2022.
It was another Trump remark that drew backlash. “For decades, Donald Trump has rushed to defend men accused of sexual assault, abuse, and harassment,” Kelsie Taggart of the progressive group American Bridge 21st Century told the Daily Beast. She also said Trump had not sought justice for Jeffrey Epstein’s victims.
Before her appointment, James posted on Sept. 28: “What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable,” ABC News reported.
What Happens Next in the Case
Two of the accused, Gillio Lopes and Winston Lee, have asked courts to remove James, arguing that the post shows bias. Hochul said she has “every confidence” in her.
James’s office has said the investigation will take months. No grand jury decision has been reported.
In the civil case, Judge Phaedra Perry-Bond on Oct. 16 denied a request by defendant Diego Sarabia for a gag order, WSTM reported. She has also condemned online threats and doxing tied to the case.
Giuffra says Jane Doe has received death threats.
What the Cornell Chi Phi Lawsuit Alleges
The lawsuit alleges that the woman, then a 20-year-old student, was pressured into snorting ketamine, smoking marijuana and drinking at the Chi Phi house, and was sexually assaulted while incapacitated.
It says one member sent a message inviting others to join. She went to campus police about three weeks later. The suit also names Cornell, the fraternity and an Ithaca bar.
Cornell, Chi Phi and the Accused Respond
The seven men accused in the lawsuit are Matthew Ingalls, Johnathan Newell, Winston Lee, Gillio Lopes, Diego Sarabia, Scott Norris and Scott Kretzschmar, WFSB reported. All seven deny wrongdoing, and none has been charged.
“At bottom, Scott never sexually assaulted or even touched the plaintiff in any way,” Kretzschmar’s lawyer told ABC News. Norris said through his attorney, “I did not participate in any sexual activity or drug use.”
A lawyer for Lopes said the allegations “do not reflect the complete record.” Lee and Sarabia told Cornell investigators that their contact with her was consensual.
Cornell says it expelled and suspended students after its own investigation. “Any suggestion that the university did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false,” the university said, the AP reported. President Michael Kotlikoff apologized on Oct. 13 for the harm Jane Doe suffered and suspended fraternity parties for the school year.
Chi Phi’s national fraternity “condemns sexual assault and drug and alcohol abuse in the strongest possible terms,” its interim executive director, Trey Robb, told Newsweek.
Featured image from: Marlene Landu, CC BY-SA 4.0 and Claude-Étienne Armingaud, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons; composite CC BY-SA 4.0