David Copperfield took to social media on Wednesday imploring the public not to ‘rush to judgment’ – prior to a new report detailing a model’s claims that he sexually assaulted her 30 years ago, when she was 17.
The model, named Brittney Lewis, told The Wrap that the magician, who was 32 at the time, spiked her drink with drugs, then sexually assaulted her in 1988.
Lewis first met Copperfield when he was a judge for a modeling competition she was participating in held by Elite Model Management that September in Japan, she told the outlet.
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Problem: David Copperfield, 61, took to social media on Wednesday to implore the public not to ‘rush to judgment’ – prior to a report from The Wrap detailing a model’s claims that he sexually assaulted her 30 years ago, when she was 17
Copperfield subsequently invited Lewis, a native of Utah, to accompany him to a show in California scheduled for later that year, getting permission from her grandmother Patricia Burton due to her age, she told the outlet.
Burton told the publication that the magician vowed to ‘take care of’ the young model – noting they would have separate rooms – and said she took the ‘charming’ magician at his word.
Lewis told the outlet that she was not 100 percent sure on which city it was, but believed it to be San Diego. (The outlet referenced old newspapers in confirming Copperfield had played a pair of shows there that December.)
Lewis said that the trip started fine, although she rebuffed his attempt at holding her hand, reminding him they were only friends. She said that after the show they went to a bar, where she saw him putting something into her drink. Lewis recalled of the incident: ‘I asked, “What are you doing?” And he said, “Oh, I’m just sharing.”‘
Stating his case: The magician posted this statement on Twitter before The Wrap posted their story
Hitting the town: The illusionist was snapped last September in NYC with his partner, designer Chloe Gosselin
Lewis told the outlet that she had lost consciousness after a couple of swigs of her beverage, later recalling him stripping her down and sexually assaulting her in a hotel room.
‘I remember my clothes being taken off’ she told The Wrap. ‘He was kissing my face and then I remember him starting to go down my body with his face, and then, as soon as he started going down, I just completely blacked out.’
According to Lewis, Copperfield told her the following day that ‘nothing happened’ between them, as he was wary of her age.
‘He wanted to me know that nothing happened because I was underage,’ Lewis told the outlet. ‘He said: “I didn’t enter you,”‘ she recalled, adding that ‘there was no fluid but he could have had a condom.’
She said he implored her to write a letter stating she was fine following the incident, adding, ‘My therapist later told me that he made me write a contract to keep me quiet.’
Way back when: Copperfield was seen in this shot taken in 1989, less than a year after the alleged encounter
Plea: Copperfield said that while people should ‘always listen and consider everything carefully,’ they should not ‘rush to judgment’ over allegations. He was snapped in NYC last year
She told the publication that she’s not looking for any money as a result of the incident, which she informed the FBI about 11 years ago, when he was facing sex assault allegations by a woman named Lacey L. Carroll.
The outlet spoke with four people linked to Lewis – her husband, ex-husband, grandmother and a friend – who all confirmed Lewis telling them about the alleged incident more than 20 years back.
The 61-year-old took to Twitter Wednesday and said while that he’s behind the tide emerging to wipe out sexual harassment and abuse, people should not immediately accept claims made as definitive proof.
Out and about: The magician was snapped last month in Las Vegas for a benefit show
The New Jersey-born illusionist said that the ongoing ‘#MeToo movement is crucial and long overdue’ and ‘important’ for progress to occur in society,
‘We all want people who feel they’ve been victims of sexual misconduct to be empowered, and as a rule we should listen, so more will feel comfortable coming forward,’ Copperfield said.
‘I’ve lived with years of news reports about me being accused of fabricated, heinous acts, with few telling the story of the accuser getting arrested, and my innocence,’ he said, referring to Carroll’s 2010 guilty plea to obstructing a police officer.
He continued, ‘Knowing that false accusers can negatively impact the believability of others and are a true disservice to those who have been victims of sexual misconduct, I didn’t draw attention to it.’
Copperfield continued, ‘But imagine what it’s like, believing in the movement, and having also been falsely accused publicly in the past,’ referencing his past allegations made against him in 2007 by Carroll, in a case that was subsequently dropped.
‘So while I weather another storm, I want the movement to continue to flourish,’ he said. ‘Always listen and consider everything carefully, but please for everyone’s sake don’t rush to judgment.’