On Saturday, Extra host A.J. Calloway was suspended by Warner Bros. Television after a growing number of accusations of sexual misconduct. Now, his accusers have spoken out in a new piece in The Hollywood Reporter. As of Wednesday, six women have come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct and assault against Calloway.
Last June, writer and domestic-violence awareness activist Sil Lai Abrams told THR that Calloway groped her and exposed himself to her in his car in 2006, and that he had tried to force her head onto his lap and later masturbated after placing her hand on his lap.
Following Abrams’s account, the publication spoke to five more women who allege that Calloway assaulted them as well. The host was suspended from Extra as THR was preparing to publish the new allegations that had surfaced.
One of the women, Jeannie Delgado, who works in the aviation industry, told THR that she met Calloway on a flight from Newark to Los Angeles in 2008, and the two became friendly. He invited her to his house in New Jersey for a Christmas party that year, and again for another gathering in 2009, which is when she says that he offered to let her stay overnight in a guest room and proceeded to rape her.
“When I tried to get up, he pulled me back down and bear-hugged me,†she said. “That was for hours. I lay there crying the whole time. When the sun came up, he raped me again.â€
Delgado told THR she was motivated to share her story after reading Abrams’s. Though she spoke to The Daily Beast on condition of anonymity in January — along with another unnamed woman — she’s now coming forward with her name.
Another woman, who goes only by the pseudonym Daisy, told THR that she met Calloway in 2003 at an L.A. club when she was barely 19, and that he took her home and assaulted her.
“He’d be in me, and I was able to get him out of me, off of me, but he was too strong,†she said. “He kept yelling, ‘You don’t want me!’ At a certain point I gave up. That’s the part that haunts me the most. I was just crying.â€
Nancy, another woman going by a pseudonym, said she first met Calloway at a restaurant in 2003 where she was working, and she recognized him from TV. After he asked her out a few times, according to her account, she agreed to get together.
She said that Calloway unexpectedly cut the date short and offered to drive her home, but once in the car, she realized he was heading in the wrong direction. She said that he took her home, pushed her on a bed and sexually assaulted her.
THR also spoke to the other anonymous woman who spoke to The Daily Beast in January along with Delgado. She still wishes to remain unnamed. Another anonymous woman came forward to THR and said that she made a claim in California against Calloway, and shared evidence with THR that she sought a medical exam in connection with an alleged sexual assault several years ago after what she says was an encounter with Calloway.
THRÂ reported that the women interviewed for the story all said that Calloway used no protection during their alleged assaults.
Calloway, via an attorney, denied all assault allegations to THR. His lawyer, Lisa E. Davis, said in a statement: “These allegations are completely false. Mr. Calloway has never sexually assaulted anyone and is devastated that he is being falsely accused of such terrible conduct. Throughout his career, Mr. Calloway has been a tireless advocate for community empowerment and equality and justice for all people regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation or gender expression.â€
Calloway has been with Extra since 2005. Warner Bros. said in a statement that “upon becoming aware of allegations†against Calloway, it had begun an internal review that found “nothing to suggest that Mr. Calloway has ever engaged in workplace misconduct.†But, the company added, “in light of additional allegations brought to our attention, we are expanding our ongoing inquiries.â€