Netflix’s Wednesday Star Responds To Sexual Assault Allegations
Percy Hynes White, who plays Xavier Thorpe on Wednesday, denies all sexual assault allegations against him.
Goth teen drama Wednesday was a big hit for Netflix and a huge success for star Jenna Ortega. Unfortunately, actor Percy Hynes White who played Xavier Thorpe in the series, isn’t having such a positive post-Wednesday experience. White faced sexual assault allegations at the beginning of the year, allegations he has just recently come forward and addressed as he denied any wrongdoing.
The 21-year-old released a statement via an Instagram story in which he refuted any wrongdoing. White avoided discussing the allegations in detail and curiously did not address why he waited months to respond to the allegations. “Earlier this year, somebody I’ve never met started a campaign of misinformation against me online,” White posted earlier this week. The young actor claims the accusations led to his family being doxxed and his friends having death threats made against them.
White went on to explain that footage of him in character was used against him as evidence of his wrongdoing. White’s Wednesday character is something of an antagonist for much of the show, something that the actor is claiming bled into these real-life allegations of assault. White also added that his friend Jane was “falsely portrayed as a victim” and that her attempts to clear things up publicly have been largely ignored.
White definitively declared the rumors about him to be “false” and expressed his inability to accept his portrayal as a predator. Unlike his Wednesday character Xavier Thorpe, White denounced bigotry and the criminal negligence of people’s safety. White called the claims against him “baseless” and “harmful,” and blamed the mistrust people feel towards victims of abuse on allegations like the ones he’s facing.
The initial allegations sprang from a Tweet posted in January of this year. Twitter user @milkievich accused Percy Hynes White of assaulting her and several other women at a party the star hosted in Toronto. She further claimed that White would regularly throw parties and provide drugs and alcohol to underage girls in order to sleep with them.
The since-deleted tweets specifically accused the Xavier Thorpe actor of abusing a 13/14-year-old girl and having intercourse with her when he was 20, and she was just 16.
The original series of tweets have since been deleted and @milkievich currently has no tweets available to view whatsoever. However, other allegations similar to the original popped up on Twitter as soon as the first accusation started to go viral. The inevitable backlash led to many Wednesday fans calling for White to be fired from his role as Xavier Thorpe, something Netflix has yet to do.
White closed out his statement by thanking everyone who has stood by him and helped him to try and clear his name. The actor called for an end to the harassment plaguing his family and friends and thanked anyone who took the time to read the whole statement.
Wednesday has already been renewed for a second season, but there has been no word yet on whether Xavier Thorpe will be returning or not. Jenna Ortega went on record recently saying that Season 2 of the popular Netflix show will ditch the love triangle from the first season in favor of more horror-oriented content. While that doesn’t necessarily mean that Netflix is going to write Pery Hynes White’s character out of the show, the lack of a romantic foil for Wednesday certainly makes it easier if the streamer does decide to go that route.
