Florence Pugh Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Netflix On Sunday, Florence Pugh ardently spoke out on social media about an alleged sexual assault that took place in 2024 at Cornell University, later noting that her post had been “censored“ by Instagram.
“This is really the moment where we need our men to be as horrified and as sickened as us,“ Pugh wrote in a statement on her Instagram. ”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?”
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In a recently filed lawsuit, a former Cornell student alleges that she was given alcohol and drugs and raped by multiple men at a fraternity house. The woman reported the incident to the Cornell University Police Department, but no criminal charges were filed.
On Monday, a New York prosecutor, Tompkins County district attorney Matthew Van Houten, said that he would reopen an investigation into the incident.
Pugh, who is also currently on a promotional tour for her upcoming Netflix series East of Eden, took to Instagram to share her thoughts on the accusations after the new lawsuit was filed. She added, “Colleges/schools/universities repeatedly fail women around the world. You build men that get taught through time and time again that they can do extreme harm and that they won’t be harmed in return.“
She continued: “Those that protect and lightly sentence men that rape and destroy, should be punished and watched closely. Why are you protecting someone that fiercely?“
After sharing her initial statement, Pugh noted that posts appeared to be “censored,“ writing later on Sunday, ”Rather worryingly, neither I or some of my followers can access the recent post that I wrote about the Cornell College [sic] sexual abuse. Why is that? Has it been taken down for others? Am I being censored for talking about rape?”
In attempting to review Pugh’s earlier post, users were given a sensitive content warning by the social media site that obscures the content of the post. The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Meta for comment, but has yet to hear back.
Pugh is not the only Hollywood name speaking out about the Cornell rape allegations. Actor Josh Gad also posted on social media about the incident, writing, ”This isn’t an Oopsie daisy. This is a destruction of life. We are sending a profoundly disturbing message with our inability to hold anyone accountable that this is OK.“
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also condemned the actions of Cornell, saying during a town hall in Ithaca, “This is a culture, this is norms, these are practices, and what we must do is understand that we cannot protect those spaces anymore.”
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