English Teacher creator and star Brian Jordan Alvarez has been accused of sexually assaulting a former co-star on multiple occasions in a new report from Vulture.
Jon Ebeling starred alongside Alvarez and his real-life best friend and English Teacher co-star Stephanie Koenig on the celebrated web series The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo. As Vulture reports, the web series followed a toxic romantic dynamic that allegedly existed in real life amongst the co-stars: Koenig and Ebeling had romantic feelings for each other, while Alvarez secretly harbored — and pursued — a crush on Ebeling.
Ebeling told Vulture he “was just so excited for the exposure” of the series, but also claimed that there were multiple instances in which he felt Alvarez pushed his boundaries, including one alleged incident in his apartment during which he said he felt “insane pressure” from the English Teacher star to hook up.
A spokesperson for Alvarez vehemently denied the claims in a statement shared with DECIDER. “Brian Jordan Alvarez’s interactions with Jon Ebeling were always entirely consensual – as numerous witnesses have attested. Indeed, in 2018, two years after this alleged incident, Mr. Ebeling himself unambiguously said as much on tape,” they said.
Their statement continued, “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.
“As well as minimizing Mr. Ebeling’s taped admission that his relationship with Brian had always been consensual, New York Magazine entirely ignored first-hand testimony about Mr. Ebeling’s history as a perpetrator of scarring acts of assault,” they said. “That’s beyond disappointing and is a deeply troubling reflection on New York Magazine’s ethics – and anyone tempted to republish Mr. Ebeling’s claims should be aware of the risks involved in doing so. Brian is currently taking legal advice as he considers his next steps.”
In the Vulture report, Ebeling alleged that Alvarez asked that they compare penises and said that Koenig, who Ebeling was seeing at the time, “would want them to experiment together.” He claims that after saying “no” multiple times, he relented and allowed Alvarez to perform oral sex on him.
“I thought this is what I needed to do to keep the peace, to keep seeing Steph, to stay on the show,” Ebeling claimed. In response to the allegation, Alvarez said Ebeling “enthusiastically gave consent” and “encouraged it throughout.”
They later recreated the incident for an episode of Caleb Gallo, which Ebeling said felt like an opportunity to “take my painful experience and turn it into some good content. Maybe be in a show that gets sold. We can all have jobs.”
Ebeling also claimed Alvarez once put his hand down the back of his pants and groped his butt as they were saying goodbye. The next day on set, Ebeling and Alvarez were filming a scene in which Alvarez’s character performed oral sex on Ebeling’s character. Ebeling claimed to Vulture that Alvarez went under the covers and began sucking his penis without his consent.
“I am assuming nobody on set knows what’s going on under the comforter, and I’m just frozen,” he told the publication. “I didn’t know what to do. I’m on set with my director, who is assaulting me. It was a horrible feeling.”
He continued, “I was like, ‘Wait a second. I didn’t consent to this.’ We didn’t talk about this. I was raped.”
Alvarez’s lawyer, Michael J. Kump, claimed Alvarez believed the incident was consensual because of their past sexual encounters. “This was the performative Kabuki theater of a self-described manipulator, who was distorting the situation to ingratiate himself to [Koenig],” Kump said, adding that Alvarez believed “Mr. Ebeling was fine with it” and “consented verbally” to it before filming, which Ebeling denies.
Koenig did not respond to the allegations detailed in the report, but text messages obtained by Vulture appear to show her telling Ebeling after the incident, “Cause you’re making it huge. Make it small. Rationalize it instead of internally letting your emotions interpret it.” In another message shared by Vulture she responds, “He’s not like a rapist jon.”
DECIDER has reached out to Koenig’s rep for comment.
Almost eight years after the incident, Ebeling filed a police report with the LAPD and the Screen Actors Guild the day before English Teacher premiered on Hulu.
In addition to Ebeling’s allegations, people who knew Alvarez in college at the University of Southern California alleged to Vulture that the actor was known to “potentially cross some boundaries with straight guys.” A former classmate also accused Alvarez of groping him while he was intoxicated, which Alvarez says he has “no recollection” of.
Ebeling recounted to Vulture an interaction he says he had with Alvarez in 2019 after making it clear that he had a “problem” with him.
Ebeling alleged that Alvarez fell to the ground crying about the impact Ebeling’s allegations could have on his career. “Brian was begging me not to end his career,” Ebeling said. “It was like him turning himself into the victim. I just stood there.”
If you or someone you know needs to reach out about sexual abuse or assault, RAINN is available 24/7 at 800-656-HOPE (4673), or online at RAINN.org.
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