Brian Jordan Alvarez, the creator and star of the acclaimed comedy series “English Teacher,” has been accused of sexual assault.
In a Vulture report published Tuesday, Jon Ebeling, Alvarez’s former collaborator and co-star on “The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo,” alleged that Alvarez assaulted him more than eight years ago while they were shooting a scene for the web comedy series. Ebeling said he filed a police report with the Los Angeles Police Department in September and also reported Alvarez to the Screen Actors Guild.
USA TODAY has reached out to Alvarez’s rep, SAG and the LAPD.
In the article, Ebeling alleged that he and Alvarez were shooting a scene for “Caleb Gallo,” which aired in 2016, that called for Alvarez’s character to ask to perform oral sex on him. Ebeling told Vulture that while shooting the scene, Alvarez pulled down his underwear and actually began performing the act on him.
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“I am assuming nobody on set knows what’s going on under the comforter, and I’m just frozen,” he said. “I didn’t know what to do. I’m on set with my director, who is assaulting me. It was a horrible feeling.”
“I was like, ‘Wait a second. I didn’t consent to this. We didn’t talk about this.’ I was raped.”
The scene was reportedly based on a real encounter between Ebeling and Alvarez. Ebeling told Vulture that he had previously allowed Alvarez to perform oral sex on him after Alvarez was pressuring him to hook up. Alvarez maintained that Ebeling “enthusiastically gave consent.”
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Speaking through his lawyer, Michael J. Kump, Alvarez told Vulture that during the scene, “Brian briefly made contact with Mr. Ebeling’s penis under the covers, believing (correctly and justifiably in light of Brian’s then-current sexual relationship with Mr. Ebeling) that Mr. Ebeling was fine with it.”
Alvarez’s representatives additionally told Vulture that Ebeling “consented verbally” to doing this “for real” before the scene, which Ebeling denied.
In a statement provided to USA TODAY, a spokesperson for Alvarez said that his “interactions with Jon Ebeling were always entirely consensual — as numerous witnesses have attested,” adding that “in 2018, two years after this alleged incident, Mr. Ebeling himself unambiguously said as much on tape.”
The spokesperson criticized the article detailing the allegations, accused Ebeling of assault and said Alvarez is considering his next legal steps.
“For many months, Mr. Ebeling has peddled his falsehoods to anyone who would listen but, when confronted with proof of his duplicity and definitive evidence provided by third parties showing why Mr. Ebeling should not be trusted, numerous media outlets declined to print his outrageous claims. Sadly, New York Magazine displayed no such judgment in its reckless headlong pursuit of publishing a salacious, attention-grabbing article, no matter the truth.”
Ebeling previously hinted at an unpleasant experience with Alvarez, sharing the “English Teacher” poster on Instagram and writing that his “personal experience” with its creator was “much closer to the plot of” “BabyReindeer,” the Netflix series about a man being stalked and sexually assaulted.
“English Teacher,” which wrapped its first season in October, has not yet been renewed for a second season.
