*Marlee Matlin is addressing the multiple reports that surfaced Friday claiming Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump referred to her as “retarded” during her season of “Celebrity Apprentice.”
The allegations followed an earlier report that Trump tried to hit on the Oscar-winning actress repeatedly during the taping of the 11th season.
Matlin, who is hearing impaired, tweeted her response this afternoon.
“Recent media reports have circulated that Donald Trump allegedly referred to me as ‘retarded,’ ” she wrote. “The term is abhorrent and should never be used. The fact that we are talking about this during a very important moment in American history has upset me deeply.”
“I am Deaf,” she continues. “There are millions of Deaf and hard of hearing people like me, in the United States and around the world who face discrimination and misunderstanding like this on a daily basis. It is unacceptable.”
“So what’s my response? It’s not about insults or taking each other down,” she concludes. “As a person who is Deaf, as a woman, as a mom, as a wife, as an actor, I have a voice. And I’m using that voice to make myself heard…and vote.”
My response to recent media reports – Marlee. pic.twitter.com/Mkrbh47dUO
— Marlee Matlin (@MarleeMatlin) October 14, 2016
The Trump campaign has yet to respond.
Meanwhile, two more woman came forward on Friday with accusations of being sexually assaulted by Trump.
Kristin Anderson accused the real estate mogul of sliding his fingers under her skirt at a New York City nightclub in the early 1990s; and former “Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos, who held a press conference Friday morning with attorney Gloria Allred.
Zervos, the first contestant fired from her season Trump’s reality TV show, said she approached Trump about a job at his company in 2007, after she appeared on the show. They met first in Trump Tower to discuss the opportunity, where she says he kissed her twice on the mouth and asked for her phone number. Weeks later, she says he arranged to meet with her at a hotel in Los Angeles, where Zervos says he kissed, groped and thrust his genitals on her.
On Wednesday, The New York Times reported on two women who alleged that Trump had assaulted them. Jessica Leeds recalled her encounter with the billionaire in the 1970s, as did Rachel Crooks, who met Trump in 2005.
