*Richard Branson is the latest male celeb to be accused of sexual assault, but the billionaire businessman says he has no memory of the episode alleged to have taken place in 2010 at his Caribbean home.
Branson is accused of putting his face in the breasts of Antonia Jenae, a singer who currently has a song on the soundtrack to Spike Lee’s Netflix reboot of “She’s Gotta Have It.” She was a background singer for Joss Stone when the alleged incident took place during a party at Branson’s Necker Island.
“He went ‘brrrrrr’ and just walked away. It was surreal, totally out of the blue,” Jenae told British newspaper The Sun.
“His behavior was disgusting. I feel like it was sexual assault,” she added. “Everyone was wondering why I wasn’t angry because I’m usually a firebrand. But I was just too shocked.”
A spokesperson for Branson’s company, Virgin, said in response:
“Richard has no recollection of this matter and neither do his family and friends, who were with him at the time. There would never have been any intention to offend or make anyone feel uncomfortable in any way and Richard apologizes if anyone felt that way during their time on the island.”
Jenae first made the allegations in a Facebook post on October 16 along with the hashtag #metoo.
“He kept trying to convince me to show him my boobs like this Indian statute (sic) he had at his pool on his island, I took it as a ‘joke,’ ” she wrote of Branson in the post. “As everyone was saying goodnight, he proceeded to ‘motorboard’ my breasts with his face,” she continued. “I was so shocked. I think everyone was, no one said or did anything.”
Read the FB post in full below:
Jenae also wrote on Facebook that her boss and her boss’ father witnessed the incident. She told The Sun that she and Stone recorded a video immediately after to record their outrage.
According to CNN, Branson was previously accused of inappropriately touching the ex-wife of Formula 1 driver Jenson Button after drinking heavily at a Japanese restaurant in Australia. The driver wrote in his autobiography published last month that Branson made Jessica Michibata uncomfortable by flirting with her before “putting his hand on her face.”
Button said the billionaire was “so hammered that he simply didn’t understand what the problem was.” The driver wrote in his book that Branson apologized, and quit drinking for “months afterwards.”
Jenae said in an Instagram post on Sunday that she has been called a “liar” and “gold digger” since The Sun published its story.
“I am strong,” she said. “I just hope my situation can make it better for a person not as strong.”
“There is safety in numbers,” Jenae added. “That’s why so many woman (sic) are speaking up now. Instead of asking me why didn’t I say anything before now, what SHOULD be asked is why did he think that was okay?”
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