Rape Allegations Against Comedian Ignite Social Media Firestorm

This week, comedian Aaron Glaser was permanently banned from the Upright Citizens Brigade theater in New York City following allegations that he’s raped multiple women in the New York comedy scene.

UCB has since removed his performer information from their website. The news of Glaser’s ban began to spread on Facebook on Saturday, Aug. 13 through a series of posts made by local comics.

By the end of the day, the story had reached Los Angeles.

Glaser reacted to the ban by posting a statement on Facebook, maintaining his innocence. He has since deleted the post and was not available to comment on this story. 

In the past year, UCBLA, iO West and iO Chicago have all dealt with issues of sexual harassment and assault. 

On Dec. 28, 2015, LA stand-up comic Beth Stelling shared images of her own abuse through a photo collage on Instagram. Her abuser was later outed as ex-boyfriend and fellow comic Cale Hartmann. On Dec. 30, he published a post defending himself, saying, “My career and life do not deserve to be taken away without some basic level of due process just because of an allegation on the Internet.” His most recent Twitter update reads:

Only recently have women in comedy felt comfortable speaking out against the systemic sexism and abuse that has been historically problematic at many comedic institutions across the country.

When accusations of abuse initially began rolling in, theaters were ill-equipped to deal with them.

Now, UCBNY employs Marissa Tunis, a Director of Student Affairs who is also a licensed psychologist. Tunis invites UCB students and performers to speak with her about accusations of sexual misconduct. Other comedy theaters have instituted similar practices. 

New-York based comic Maria Wojciechowski performs in stand-up shows at UCBEast and approves of the way the theater has handled the allegations against Glaser. She told Dose, “Similar allegations about other men have been made at so many other improv theaters and comedy clubs around the country and the ‘internal investigations’ either did absolutely nothing, or worse, they exposed the victims to their abuser in an attempt to ‘put an end to things.’ I was and am relieved that people at UCB decided to take action in the way that they did.”

But not everyone agrees with her. Comic Kurt Metzger, who has been employed as a writer on “Inside Amy Schumer,” was very vocal about his feelings that Glaser should not have been banned from UCB without tangible evidence. 

Until today, Schumer has remained silent on the topic of Metzger’s comments and has even gone so far as to block female Twitter users who have Tweeted at her to ask for her opinion. She finally weighed in today with these tweets:

What Metzger and others like him want is undeniable evidence that the accused rapists are, in fact, guilty. But this proof is almost impossible to provide. According to RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), 65 percent of all rapes are not reported to the police for a variety of reasons—victims fear retaliation either from their rapist or within their communities. Others worry that police will be unable to help them—and they’re not entirely wrong. Only 2 percent of all reported rapes will end with the rapist behind bars.

Currently, UCB has not released any information regarding their internal investigation of the alleged rapes, nor any information about Glaser’s accusers (only that there were “multiple”).

There is also no info available about whether or not the accusers filed police reports before reporting the rapes to UCB. Dose reached out to both Marissa Tunis and Raina Falcon, a UCB representative. Falcon responded: “The UCB is not formally commenting on this matter, but I will say that UCB has always had an open door policy and encourages anyone with a complaint or concern regarding sexual harassment to report it immediately to any of our Directors of Student Affairs, who are trained professionals. Any such complaints are always taken very seriously.”

 

Tunis was unavailable for comment at the time of this story’s publication. 

Alison Klemp, a local comic who has performed with Glaser, takes issue with the criticism that Metzger (and others like him) level at UCB for their handling of the allegations. She told Dose that, according to her, the problem lies in Metzger’s “apparent need for the victims to out themselves, which is a huge ethics violation. He also seems to think that bullying women into going to the police is a good idea, and I can’t think of a less effective way to encourage a woman to report.”  

Wojciechowski believes that, “As a whole, the New York stand-up community is very supportive of women and open to the dialogue about rape and consent,” but she also worries that there is a small sub-set of male comics who believe that, in these situations, the alleged rapists are actually the victims. She adds:

In the discussion of rape culture, many approach it from a place of fear. Women, the fear of being raped; and men, the fear of being falsely accused of rape. When fear dictates the conversation, it usually doesn’t resolve anything. 

Today, Reductress, the “first and only satirical women’s magazine,” made a very powerful statement by covering their entire homepage with stories about rape. Highlights include, “We Built This Robot To Explain Rape Culture to Men,” “How to be an Ally to Both a Rapist and His Victim” and “Most Women Lie About Rape, Says Man Lying About Rape.” 

It’s a refreshing and necessary perspective on a topic that doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.

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Rape Allegations Against Comedian Ignite Social Media Firestorm