Republican Roy Moore, comedian Louis CK accused of sexual misconduct

A month before Alabama's special election, Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore abruptly faced lurid allegations on Thursday of sexual misconduct with minors decades ago. An immediate backlash from party leaders demanded Moore get out of the race if the accusations prove true.

The instant fallout followed a Washington Post report in which an Alabama woman said Moore, then a 32-year-old assistant district attorney, had sexual contact with her when she was 14. Three other women interviewed by the Post said Moore, now 70, approached them when they were between the ages of 16 and 18 and he was in his early 30s. All four women spoke on the record to the Post.

The Moore campaign denied the report as "the very definition of fake news and intentional defamation."

"I believe you and I have a duty to stand up and fight back against the forces of evil waging an all-out war on our conservative values," More wrote. "I will NEVER GIVE UP the fight!"

Moore, a former Alabama Supreme Court justice, has made his name in Republican politics through his public devotion to hardline Christian conservative positions.

He was twice removed from his Supreme Court position, once for disobeying a federal court order to remove a 5,200 pound granite Ten Commandments monument from the lobby of the state judicial building, and later for urging state probate judges to defy the US Supreme Court decision that legalised gay marriage.

Moore's name cannot be removed from the ballot before the December 12 special election even if he withdraws from the race, according to John Bennett, a spokesman for the Alabama secretary of state.

The Alabama special election is to fill the vacancy created when Trump tapped Senator Jeff Sessions to serve as the US attorney general.

The White House had an immediate comment. But on the ground in Alabama, some Republicans were willing to downplay the allegations.

"Take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus," Alabama state Auditor Jim Ziegler told The Washington Examiner.

The Post reported that Moore, then 32, first approached 14-year-old Leigh Corfman in early 1979 outside a courtroom in Etowah county, Alabama. After phone calls and meetings, he drove her to his home some days later and kissed her, the Post quotes Corfman as saying. On a second visit, he took off her shirt and pants and removed his clothes except for his underwear before touching her over her bra and underpants, Corfman told the Post. He also guided her hand to touch him over his underwear, she said.

"I wanted it over with – I wanted out," she told the Post. "Please just get this over with. Whatever this is, just get it over."

In Washington at least, few Republicans came to Moore's defence in the hours after the report was published.

"The allegations against Roy Moore are deeply disturbing and disqualifying," said Arizona Senator John McCain. "

Alabama law lists the legal age of consent as 16.

TRT World speaks to law professor Jennifer Drobac about whether these disclosures will change the legal landscape.

The Louis report

Comedian Louis CK has been accused of sexual misconduct toward several women, including masturbating in front of them to their horror and embarrassment, according to a report in The New York Times.

Comedians Dana Min Goodman, Abby Schachner, Julia Wolov, Rebecca Corry allege the Emmy-winning star of FX's "Louie" either pleasured himself in front of them, asked to do it or did so over the phone. A fifth woman detailed her allegations against CK to the paper but was not identified.

A lawyer for CK did not immediately respond to comment, but a representative for the comedian said Thursday that CK would issue a written statement in the coming days.

Another publicist told the Times the comedian would not respond to their reporting.

Corry alleges the comedian, while she was working on TV pilot in 2005, asked "if we could go to my dressing room so he could masturbate in front of me." She declined "and he told me he had issues." The show's executive producers, Courteney Cox and David Arquette confirmed Corry's account to the Times. Cindy Guagenti, Arquette's representative, said her client had nothing more to add.

In anticipation of the report, the New York premiere of CK’s new film I Love You, Daddy was cancelled on Thursday night and his scheduled Friday appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert also has been scrapped.

HBO said it will remove CK's past projects from its video on demand services.

CK is among the latest Hollywood figures to be accused of misconduct in a wave that began when dozens of sexual harassment allegations were reported last month against film mogul Harvey Weinstein.

The allegations about CK prompted Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey to announce Thursday the establishment of a task force to handle any resulting criminal complaints.

The industry group Women in Film also announced Thursday that it plans to launch a "help line" and panel of pro-bono legal professionals to provide counselling, referrals and legal advice to harassment victims. The free service is expected to be available beginning December 1.

Other fallout Thursday

• Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner was accused of sexual harassment by former writer Kater Gordon on the show. In an article published Thursday, she shared Weiner said she "owed it to him to let him see me naked" when they were working together one night. Weiner denied the allegations in a statement released by his publicist.
• Prison Break star Robert Knepper denied allegations that he forced himself on a costume designer in 1992 while filming Gas Food Lodging. Knepper on Instagram, saying "I am shocked and devastated to be falsely accused of violence against a woman. That's just not who I am."
• Director Alfonso Arau dismissed Debra Messing's charge that he demeaned her on the set of her first film, A Walk in the Clouds. The 85-year-old filmmaker said the Will & Grace star was "following fashion" with her accusation but that it had "nothing to do with reality." Messing said in February that Arau and producers had surprised her with a nude scene in the 1995 film that she hadn't agreed to in advance. When she complained, she says Arau told her, "Your job is to get naked and to say the lines. That's it."