Dustin Hoffman Accused of Sexual Misconduct By 3 More Women, Including One Who Was A Minor

In a report from Variety on Thursday, three more women accused Dustin Hoffman of sexual assault, including one who was a minor at the time of the alleged incident. According to the outlet, Hoffman's reps did not make him available for comment on the story, though his attorney wrote in a letter that the accusations were "defamatory falsehoods." (Bustle reached out to Hoffman's rep for comment, but did not receive an immediate response.)

The women shared various accounts of alleged assault and harassment from the now 80-year-old actor with Variety. The first, Cori Thomas, claimed that Hoffman allegedly exposed himself to her in a hotel room when she was 16 years old and still in high school. According to her account, she was a classmate of Hoffman’s daughter, Karina, when she met him in 1980. After spending the day with Hoffman and Karina, Thomas claimed she ended up alone in Hoffman’s hotel room, where he allegedly stood naked in front of her for a prolonged period of time before getting dressed and asking her to massage his feet. Thomas said she complied.

Melissa Kester made similar accusations. She told Variety that she was a recent college graduate when Hoffman allegedly sexually assaulted her while recording audio for Ishtar, a 1987 film in which he starred. She claimed that, while she was with her boyfriend and another engineer at the studio where Hoffman was recording, he allegedly ushered her into an isolation booth in which they were only visible from the chest up. Eventually, the situation allegedly escalated to nonconsensual digital penetration.

A third woman, who remained anonymous, also claimed in the Variety article that Hoffman allegedly assaulted her on the set ofIshtar. She said she was 22 at the time and had a non-speaking role in the movie. She alleged that after inviting her to set on the last day of filming, Hoffman offered to give her a ride home, which also allegedly resulted in nonconsensual digital penetration. After the car dropped her off, Hoffman allegedly gave her $20 and asked her to go to his apartment. She said she obliged, and he allegedly performed oral sex on her and they had intercourse. When Variety asked if she’d consider the second encounter as consensual, she said, “I don’t know.”

This marks seven women who have now accused Hoffman of sexual misconduct, following accounts from Kathryn Rossetter, Anna Graham Hunter, Wendy Riss Gatsiounis, and Katharine Ross. The Hollywood Reporter previously reported that Hoffman's reps have been unwilling to answer questions about the allegations, and the actor has shared varying statements regarding the women's claims.

In response to Hunter’s accusations, for example, Hoffman initially said he felt terrible that “anything [he] might have done could have put her in an uncomfortable situation” and that it was “not reflective” of who he is in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. Later, however, he backtracked and said, "It didn't happen the way she reported," and purported to not know the author. "I still don't know who this woman is. I never met her,” he claimed during a heated interview with John Oliver earlier this month. Regarding Ross, his Graduate co-star, Hoffman called reports of the incident “skewed,” while he reportedly declined to comment on Gatsiounis and Rossetter’s allegations.

Such stories, of course, add to the stream of sexual assault allegations pouring out of Hollywood against powerful men. Some have vehemently denied these claims, while others have publicly apologized, but Hoffman seems to be staying quiet, and as the saying goes, sometimes silence speaks louder than words.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit online.rainn.org.