“Wednesday” star Percy Hynes Whiteis calling out allegations against him as a “campaign of misinformation.” Hedidnot mention by name what specific allegations he was referring to, but his statement was published to Instagram months after sexual assault allegations against him began circulating social media in January.
“Earlier this year, somebody I’ve never met started a campaign of misinformation about me online. Because of this, my family has been doxxed, and my friends have received death threats,” Hynes White wrote in an Instagram story statement on Tuesday. “Underage photos of me were used, and examples of me acting in character were presented as hateful. My friend Jane was falsely portrayed as a victim, and her attempts to set the record straight have been ignored. She gave me permission to include her in this message.”
He continued: “The rumors are false. I can’t accept the portrayal of me as someone bigoted, or criminally negligent of people’s safety. These are the kind of baseless, harmful claims that can create mistrust toward victims. It’s very distressing to know that this misinformation has upset people. I’m really thankful for everyone who’s stood by me and helped share the facts. Harassment of my family, friends and coworkers needs to stop please. Thank you for taking the time to read this.”
On Jan. 18, a Twitter user alleged that Hynes White had assaulted her at a party he hosted in Toronto and that he had allegedly assaulted other women. The user claimed that Hynes White and his friends threw parties and provided alcohol and drugs to underage girls in order to have sex with them. The tweet has since been deleted.
“He would pursue, have sex with, abuse and get my friend high who was 13/14 at the time. Last time I knew they had sex she was 16 and he was 20. He assaulted me at one of those parties awhile I was too drunk, and he had cornered and pressured and assaulted multiple of my friends,” the Twitter user claimed in the since-deleted tweet.
Similar allegations appeared on Twitter after the first accusation gained traction. Many “Wednesday” fans rallied to have Hynes White removed from the show.
Hynes White played Xavier Thorpe in Season 1 of “Wednesday.” His character is a student at Nevermore Academy and had the magical ability to make his artwork come to life. He served as one of the love interests for protagonist Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) and fellow student Bianca Barclay (Joy Sunday).
Previously, Hynes White appeared in Fox’s “The Gifted” and Canadian shows like “Pretty Hard Cases,” “Transplant” and “Murdoch Mysteries.”
On Jan. 6, “Wednesday” was renewed for Season 2 after becoming one of Netflix’s biggest hits in the history of the streaming platform. It became thesecond biggest English-language season of TV on Netflix,with over 1.2 billion hours viewed within its first 28 days. It also set a new platform recordfor most hours viewed for an English-language series in its first week, with over 341 million hours.
