Ben Vereen next on Summer Jam Screen...

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ahdsend

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Broadway big Ben Vereen accused of sexual assault during 'Hair'

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When Ben Vereen held auditions for “Hair” at a community theatre in Florida in 2015, the Tony winner said he wanted to break new ground with the rock musical.


But in a sickening twist, several young actresses cast in the show claim the Broadway legend’s sexually abusive behavior nearly broke them.
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Two of the actresses told the Daily News that Vereen lured them to his Florida rental home on separate occasions in September 2015 under the guise of “private rehearsals.” Then he pressed his erect penis into their legs without warning.

Kaitlyn Terpstra was 22 years old at the time. The other actress, who asked to be identified by only her first name, Kim, was 23 years old.

Vereen was weeks shy of his 69th birthday.


In a lengthy statement to the Daily News Thursday, Vereen did not deny the accusations.

“I would like to apologize directly to the female cast members of the musical ‘Hair’ for my inappropriate conduct when I directed the production in 2015,” he said.
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The women, who first provided statements to Chris Peterson of the blog OnStage before speaking to The News, said they had no idea until recently that Vereen used the same lines on both of them to get them naked in his hot tub.


“He was acting as my mentor, asking me about my parents, then that same night, he put me on his lap while I was crying, and I felt his erection,” Terpstra recalled.


“He asked me, ‘Feel that?’ It was terrifying. I said, 'Feel what?' I wanted to act like I didn't. I pushed myself off with a laugh. Then later, he asked, ‘Do you think I want to f--k you?’ I said ‘Yes,’ and he got angry. He said, ‘Well, I don't, and that's unfortunate.' He made me feel like I had my mind in the gutter.”


Kim said during her time in the hot tub, things went even further. He asked her to perform oral sex on him. She passively obliged, feeling “confused,” she said.
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freetroit

freetroit

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bytches just need to stay home cant even send yo bytch to work cause she gon end up sucking ben vereen dikk in the bot tub

I see why men used to keep these hoes barefoot and pregnant:hhh:

Get these women out of the workforce
Give men their jobs back

All this is doing is exposing that women should just stay they slut asses home
 
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Brolic Scholar said:
If you come to my house, sit on my lap and get in the got hot tub with me, the shyt we're doing is not work related. How does a female reluctantly suck a new dikk? She doesn't use as much spit? And why did this goofy ass nikka apologize?

:snoop:

Now he has to break bread.
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yea that chick admitted it was consensual...


Kim said during her time in the hot tub, things went even further. He asked her to perform oral sex on him. She passively obliged, feeling “confused,” she said.

“I just think at the time, I didn't feel like I had a choice. I didn't want to do it, but I was intimidated and scared. He was being very intense and angry. He seemed very angry and offended. I had seen him behave this way toward others in the tribe during circle,” she told The News.

“I just felt powerless because I thought I really needed his help and guidance. And when he said nudity doesn't have to be sexual, I was like, ‘OK, maybe this isn’t even sexual,’ ” she said.

“Now I understand it was a power play. It was so calculated. It was like we were putty in his hands.”

In his statement, Vereen said he gained new perspective on his behavior in the last two years.

“While it was my intention to create an environment that replicated the themes of that musical during the rehearsal process, I have since come to understand that it is my conduct, not my intentions, which are relevant here. So I am not going to make any excuses because the only thing that matters here is acknowledging and apologizing for the effects of my conduct on the lives of these women,” he said.


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Kaitlyn Terpstra was an actress in the 2015 production of "Hair" directed by Ben Vereen. Terpstra said she was moved to speak up on Facebook by the scores of women who stepped forward to say Harvey Weinstein used his power as a movie industry gatekeeper to prey on young actresses.
(Kevin C. Downs For New York Daily News)

“Going forward, my having come to terms with my past conduct will inform all my future interactions not only with women, but with all individuals. I hope these women will find it in their hearts to accept my sincere apology and forgive me,” his statement read.

The musical “Hair” first debuted in 1967 and portrayed the hippie culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s. Its nude scene was a sensation.

Cast members say Vereen, who played Claude in the original musical from 1968 to 1972, used the artistic boundaries of the show to take advantage of the star-struck, volunteer cast at Venice Theatre.

Terpstra said she was asked to sign non-disclosure agreements, even though she didn’t have a lawyer present, and that the document propped up Vereen's aura of power.

The Broadway icon gained more influence over the group with his repeated claims he wanted to take their little production on the road, Kim said.

The prospect of a traveling show stoked the cast members' hopes they could earn their highly sought-after Actors' Equity Association cards, she explained. The elite union provides everything from health insurance to a guaranteed minimum wage and is often viewed as a springboard to a professional acting career.

“He mentioned all of us getting our Equity cards. He said if we went on tour, we would all get our cards,” Kim told The News. “There were lots of those kinds of promises. He was painting glorious pictures.”

Kim willingly admitted she became involved in a relationship with Vereen, saying she convinced herself it was more spiritual than sexual. She recalled being at Vereen's home one night trying to sleep when he started to have sex with her. He asked if it was OK, and she gave a resigned “uh-huh” response, she recalled.

Eventually, she started crying and asked him to stop, she said.

“You said it was OK,” he allegedly scolded her. according to Kim.

A third actress, Ariella Pizarro, said Vereen pressed himself against her one night as he hugged her goodbye and later texted her, "Yo (sic) felt so good tonight."

The News obtained a copy of the text message sent by Vereen and confirmed the number was listed in his name.

Pizarro said Vereen also randomly kissed her on the lips in the first few weeks of rehearsals, when she was 22 years old.

“We were in a music rehearsal, and he was just walking around, and then he walked up and kissed me on the lips. It was so weird. We all knew ‘Hair’ was going to be a different kind of production, like in the 60s, but he didn't even ask first. He just kissed me. I was shocked, for sure," Pizarro said.

“He didn’t shove his tongue down my throat, but it gave me an uneasy feeling. Then he moved on. I didn't know what to do,” she said. “From that point on, I kept myself at arm’s length with Ben.”

An actress who also asked to be identified by only her first name, Vera, said she, too, was bombarded with hugs and an overwhelming invasion of space by Vereen.

Vera, who was 27 during “Hair,” said in a statement first shared with the blog OnStage that she went to Vereen's rental home for a rehearsal with two male cast members but ended up the last to leave.

“(Vereen) proceeded to wrap his arms around me and lay me down on the couch. I was shocked. I had never been in a situation like that before,” she said in the statement she also shared with The News. “He kept whispering things into my ear like ‘relax’ and ‘Give yourself to me.’ After the initial shock wore off I stopped his advances. He was never pleasant to me again.”

Several cast members also recalled one particularly uncomfortable day when they had to strip for a rehearsal exercise related to the show's big nude scene. Vereen decided he should also get naked, they said.

"It was uncomfortable, to say the least,” Pizarro said.

Kim recalled being “shocked” at all the scars on Vereen's chest and abdomen. He was in a terrible accident in 1992 where he crashed his Corvette into a tree in Malibu, Calif. Later that day, he was struck by an SUV driven by music producer David Foster on the Pacific Coast Highway and thrown 130 feet.

Kim said after Vereen presented himself naked to the group, he made a point of whispering something to her before she left.

“Do you want to have sex with me?” he allegedly asked, according to Kim.

Stunned, Kim asked him to repeat himself.

“Oh, nothing,” he responded with a giggle, she recalled.

In a series of statements to The News, Venice Theatre officials said they finally became aware of the full extent of the allegations against Vereen after Terpstra posted about her experience on Facebook in November.

The theater attempted to contact every member of the 32-person “Hair” cast in the last few months and reached all but about six, a spokeswoman said.

“We have learned recently that during our 2015 production of ‘Hair,’ more than one female cast member was asked to join Mr. Vereen at his residence. Some of those visits resulted in compromising situations for at least two of the actresses,” Executive Director Murray Chase said in a statement to The News.

“We are working to strengthen our sexual harassment policies and procedures, including the reporting of them, to prevent any future occurrences,” he said.

Pizarro said the theater invited her to speak to the board about her experience with Vereen, which she plans to do at some point.

Terpstra said her final breaking point happened during the last night of rehearsal in November 2015 when the cast was required to put on robes in preparation for the big nude scene.

“(My robe) was very short. I had mine on, I was one of the last ones to grab a robe, and he said in front of several members of the cast, 'Yours is very short. Everyone will see your cooter, not that everyone hasn't seen it anyway.' I got really mad," she recalled.

Later, during the warmup, Vereen asked if she had something to say to him, and she shouted, “Don't ever flirt with me again!" she recalled.

"Flirt with you? Why would anyone want to flirt with you?" he allegedly responded, she said.

Vereen motioned her to talk to him in the hallway, she said, and it was there the two got in a heated argument.

“He backed me against the wall. I started to walk away and he grabbed my arm so hard, it made a slapping noise,” she recalled, adding that she shouted “don’t f--king touch me.”

She said Chase had to step in, walking with her outside and listening as she sobbed. Terpstra said she’s not sure exactly what she told him, but she thinks she mentioned at least one forced kiss. She said Chase later sat in on the final dress rehearsal, but Vereen was not banned from the building.

Chase told The News he remembered the hallway incident but thought it was isolated.
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