Content Warning: This article discusses allegations of sexual assault.
Florence Pugh shared an extensive letter Sunday condemning Cornell University for “protecting” seven men accused of rape in a new lawsuit by a former student, calling upon male peers to speak up about the “soul-destroying” allegations.
“After reading about the young woman who was gang raped at her college by her friend and school peers, I’m feeling uneasy and sick and anxious. I’m processing quietly and watching everything and everyone and every man,” Pugh wrote in a statement posted to social media. “This is really the moment where we need our men to be as horrified and as sickened as us. You need to be leading conversations about how we change the allowance and complicity of this behaviour as much as we are. How can you expect us to trust that it’s ‘not all men’ when in moments like this, many of you stay quiet?”
Pugh’s statement was posted with a caption calling the lawsuit a “human issue, not a women’s issue. We are all involved. Men especially.”
On Thursday, reports emerged that an anonymous former Cornell student was suing the school and seven Chi Pi fraternity members, claiming the organization failed to protect her and prevent the assault, alleged to have occurred in 2024. The Jane Doe claims that she visited the Chi Pi fraternity house while intoxicated, where she alleges that two frat brothers pressured her into snorting a substance they claimed was ketamine before beginning to sexually assault her. A man then allegedly told the frat’s Snapchat group that a woman was available for sex. The claimant then says she was raped for hours.
After filing a report to university police, an investigation ended with only two of seven accused fraternity members expelled, while others received less punishments such as suspensions, workshops and essays.
A representative for Cornell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Every single person who knew or heard about this happening, should be looked at with serious concern. They are as evil as those planning it. To know that a torture as violent as rape is about to happen ‘upstairs’ and not do ANYTHING ABOUT IT, is sick, cowardly and cold,” Pugh wrote. “This is a killing of a soul. Destroying of a body and killing of a soul. And they’ve been let off? All it takes is write a quick ‘I’m so sorry I raped a girl while she was drugged with my friends, we thought it would be fine?’ essay and you’re good to go! This is unacceptable.”
“There is no equality until you respect our bodies. There is no equality until you stop damaging our souls. There is no equality until you let us live. There is no equality until we can say we feel safe. We are the life force of this earth, start f–king protecting us. Be angry for us. Please,” Pugh’s statement concluded.
Josh Gad also shared a statement commenting on the lawsuit against Cornell, writing that “When we start setting a precedent that our girls and women can be brutally raped, and the resulting disciplinary action is to hand out (checks notes) ESSAYS (like it’s Bart Simpson being a lil’ rascal), about why it was wrong to brutally violate an innocent girl, we have lost our f–king minds.”
Read Pugh’s full letter on her Instagram.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, help is available through RAINN, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. Call 800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit RAINN.org for confidential support and resources.
