Legendary Broadway actor and Florida native Ben Vereen returned to his “roots” (no pun intended) to direct a production of “Hair” for the Venice Theatre in 2015. As the public is now learning, the Tony award winner also took the opportunity to sexually assault several 20-something female members of the cast.
“We have learned recently that during our 2015 production of ‘Hair,’ more than one female cast member was asked to join Mr. Vereen at his residence,” said the theatre’s executive director Murray Chase. “Some of those visits resulted in compromising situations for at least two of the actresses.”
Statements from the cast allege that the misconduct from the star—then aged 69—went far beyond that. According to the actresses, Vereen forced kisses on them, hugged them inappropriately and made degrading personal comments as a matter of course.
“During warmups … [Vereen] would meander through the group, totally ignoring the men, but groping and kissing on the women, ogling their bodies in a really obvious way,” actor Zach Wesson wrote on Facebook in response to a November post from fellow cast member Kaitlyn Terpstra exposing the misconduct.
