Former "Star Trek" actor George Takei has been accused of sexual assault stemming from a 1981 encounter, a former model and actor told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview.
Scott R. Brunton, who was 23 when the alleged incident occurred, claims that Takei took advantage of him sexually after the model felt disoriented and dizzy after a few drinks.
“This happened a long time ago, but I have never forgotten it,” Brunton told The Hollywood Reporter. “It is one of those stories you tell with a group of people when people are recounting bizarre instances in their lives, this always comes up. I have been telling it for years, but I am suddenly very nervous telling it.”
Takei, 80, played Hikaru Sulu in the original “Star Trek” television series. He tweeted Saturday that the events Brunton described "simply did not occur." He also said he did not remember Brunton.
"I want to assure you all that I am as shocked and bewildered at these claims as you must feel reading them," Takei tweeted. "The events he describes back in the 1980s simply did not occur, and I do not know why he has claimed them now. I have wracked my brain to ask if I remember Mr. Brunton, and I cannot say I do.
Takei is also an author and activist and has been an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ rights.
Brunton said he was having drinks with Takei when he began to feel ill "and must have passed out."
When he awoke, Brunton claimed Takei "had my pants down around my ankles" and was groping him, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The publication reported that it spoke with four of Brunton's friends -- Norah Roadman, Rob Donovan, Stephen Blackshear and Jan Steward -- who said that the actor had confided in them about the Takei encounter years ago.
Brunton said he suppressed the story for years because he assumed nobody would take him seriously.
“Who's going to believe me? It's my word against his,” he told The Hollywood Reporter.
Brunton's said he changed his mind after Takei spoke out about allegations leveled against actor Kevin Spacey.
"When power is used in a non-consensual situation, it is a wrong," Takei said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter on Oct. 30. "Men who improperly harass or assault do not do so because they are gay or straight -- that is a deflection. They do so because they have the power, and they chose to abuse it."
Brunton said he was angered by Takei's response.
“I don't want anything from him but an apology," he said. “I am sure he'll disown all this, I don't know, maybe not.”
