Lawyers for “Girls” writer Murray Miller has retracted a claim that actress Aurora Perrineau, who accuses Miller of raping her was 17, only went to police after Miller refused to pay her a “substantial” amount of money.
Perrineau, a star of “Passengers” and the daughter of “Lost” star Harold Perrineau, filed a police report on Nov. 17 accusing Miller of raping her in 2012. The case received widespread attention because “Girls” star Lena Dunham accused Perrineau of lying, despite her support of other women who have come forward with assault accusations.
Dunham backtracked — just as Miller’s legal team is now doing.
“In a previous statement to the media, we stated that Aurora Perrineau sought substantial monetary damages from our client, Murray Miller,” attorneys Donald and Matthew Walerstein told TheWrap in a statement Thursday. “Neither Ms. Perrineau nor her attorneys have ever made a demand for money. Our previous above statement was incorrect and the result of a good-faith misunderstanding.”
When Perrineau filed charges on Nov. 17 — as first reported by TheWrap — Matthew Walerstein issued the following statement:
After being contacted several weeks ago by lawyers who-on Ms. Perrineau’s behalf-sought substantial monetary damages from him, Mr. Miller’s legal team gathered overwhelming evidence directly contradicting these false and offensive claims. Only after her demands for money were rebuffed did Ms. Perrineau go to the police. Mr. Miller looks forward to sharing all evidence and information with any and all authorities seeking the truth in this matter.
When Perrineau came forward, TheWrap obtained the results of a polygraph test that Perrineau said she passed in September in which she detailed her accusations against Murray.
She said in her statement for the polygraph test that she met Miller while out with some friends at the Standard Hotel, where she “consumed some alcoholic beverages.” She said he flirted with her despite her telling him repeatedly that she was 17. Miller was 35 at the time.
He later asked her friends to drive him home because he was drunk, and she “woke up in Murray’s bed naked,” she said in her statement for the polygraph test.
“He was on top of me having sexual intercourse with me. At no time did I consent to any sexual contact with Murray,” she said.
Dunham and “Girls” showrunner Jenni Konner then weighed in with a statement saying that “while our first instinct is to listen to every woman’s story,” they believed Perrineau had falsely accused Miller.
Dunham’s subsequent apology said it “was absolutely the wrong time to come forward with such a statement and I am so sorry.”