MovieChat Forums > The Rookie (2018) Discussion > The Rookie's Afton Williamson IDs the pe...

The Rookie's Afton Williamson IDs the people she alleges to have racially bullied and sexually harassed her

posted 5 years ago by TMC-4 (19418)
14 replies | jump to latest

https://tvline.com/2019/08/05/afton-williamson-sexual-harassment-the-rookie-demetrius-grosse-accused/

"This season on The Rookie, I was sexually harassed by fellow actor Demetrius Grosse," Williamson wrote in an Instagram post Monday evening. "I was Racially Bullied and Discriminated against and Sexually Assaulted by Hair Department Head Sally Nicole Ciganovich." TVLine has reached out to Grosse's representatives for comment. Ciganovich has also yet to respond to Williamson's allegations. Williamson also thanked her fans for their support, writing: "I want to Thank EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU. I am so beyond overwhelmed by the outpouring of love, kind words, scriptures, strength filled quotes and devout support that has come my way. One Instagram post is just like those 2 fish and 5 loaves of Bread. The rippling effect it has had in just a few hours shows how much this world is aching with victims of racism, discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual assault, sexual abuse all of it."

[–] Satan2016 (23390) 5 years ago

Detective Kevin Wolfe was in 5/20 episodes. I don't even remember that character.

[–] vranger (444) 3 years ago

So she was "Racially Bullied and Discriminated against" by another black woman??

I don't buy it.

[–] brux (14666) 3 years ago

Sally Nicole Ciganovich is not a black woman.

[–] vranger (444) 3 years ago

I've read different speculation over whom she was referring to, since she didn't name anyone when she first started making accusations. If there is something more recent, I missed it, since I really don't care and won't be following it.

[–] brux (14666) 3 years ago

Me either. I thought she was good in the show and was disappointed to see her go. I think she got in a tiff with someone powerful and got a raw deal. Apparently she is still working, so whatever did not kill her career. That's good.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

giver her lack of hair on the show why did she need a hair stylist.

[–] maximmm (3045) 3 years ago

[The accused’s names have since been removed from this story, after a third-party investigator determined they “did not conduct themselves in an unlawful manner or demonstrate behavior inappropriate for the workplace.”]

We all want to believe her, no? But what if she is a mental case?
As far as her allegations are concerned, they were determined to be uncredible.

[–] brux (14666) 3 years ago

By Hollywood, the den of corruption. A likely story.

[–] maximmm (3045) 3 years ago

True, but to this day I don't know her exact allegations. Supposedly someone made a comment about her hair? Surely that person should be stoned to death.
And what did the dude do? If she wanted to have one person fired over a comment on her hair, I wouldn't be surprised if the dude made a comment about her clothes/body and she immediately went into the 'sexual assault' victim mode.

Point being.... she hasn't publically revealed her allegations in full, like bill cosby victims did, for example. That seems dodgy to me. There was a bit about her hair, which is pretty ridiculous.

[–] brux (14666) 3 years ago

> Supposedly someone made a comment about her hair? Surely that person should be stoned to death.

Pretty sure that was not the allegation or the suggested remedy. Hate black people much?

[–] maximmm (3045) 3 years ago

I'm pretty sure that WAS the allegation. But wait - you really don't know what the allegations were, do you?

[–] brux (14666) 3 years ago

All I know is sexual harassment. That could be at least partially about her hair among other things. You don't know, and you don't know what the comment was, or if it was the only accusation? Yet you are willing to dismiss it. You are the reason they have the #MeToo thing to begin with.

Here is what it says on Google:

ABC's cop drama, starring Nathan Fillion, had a turbulent summer, after cast member Afton Williamson (who played training officer Talia Bishop) quit after alleging she was subjected to bullying, racism, sexual harassment and sexual assault while working on the series.

Here is what Wikipedia said:

Williamson, in a lengthy Instagram post, stated that she had left the series due to having "experienced racial discrimination/racially charged inappropriate comments from the hair department."[9] Williamson also alleged that she was sexually harassed by guest star Demetrius Grosse, who portrays Kevin Wolfe in a recurring role, as well as an incident of bullying that escalated into sexual assault at a party; the head of the hair department was identified as Sallie Ciganovich. Williamson claimed that she had gone to the showrunners multiple times with these allegations, but was ignored.[10]
Everyone involved in the allegations denied them. An investigation was commissioned through the law firm Mitchell Sillerberg and Knupp along with a third-party firm, EXTTI, which conducted nearly 400 hours of interviews and examined video and other evidence.[11] The results of the investigation were published on September 17, 2019, which found that the allegations made by Williamson had no merit, and could not be proven. Williamson stood by her claims, calling the results of the investigation "heartbreaking" and postulated that the producers had lied to cover up the truth of what happened.

Why would she make something like that up when she had a great role on a hit show?

[–] maximmm (3045) 3 years ago

You've just confirmed the bit about the hair commentary

I think bullying must have been a real thing - and it's completely idiotic when it comes from adults
That is, I don't think anyone would go through all this trouble if there was nothing that was bothering her - I don't think she's Jussie Smollett.

At the same time, when shit happens and you want to remove bullies from your life and your complaints are ignored by the higher-ups, it only makes sense for one to start screaming racism/sexual assault until the powers that be start to listen. Hell, I probably would have done the same thing.

There are all kinds of people out there - some can be annoying as hell, and on rare occasions, some annoy you on purpose because they are fucked in their heads. When you encounter such people, you either have to go as far away from them as possible, or get the powers that be to remove them from your vicinity. She first tried the second bit - and then went nuclear, leading to all - her and her antagonists getting fired.

[–] nufsaid16 (629) 2 years ago

Nobody got fired due to her accusations----she simply decided to leave the show, which sucked because I liked her character---I'd seen this same actress in a previous show called Shades of Blue---she's really good.