Publicist: Masterson Couldn't Have Raped His Own Girlfriend

Because it's not rape if you're dating or in a sexual relationship with someone, Jenni Weinman says
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 23, 2017 4:00 PM CST
Publicist: Masterson Couldn't Have Raped His Own Girlfriend
In this March 24, 2014, file photo, actor Danny Masterson is seen at Beso in Hollywood.   (Photo by Annie I. Bang/Invision/AP, File)

Four women have accused That '70s Show actor Danny Masterson of rape, and his publicist is catching heat for how she's defending him. Two of Masterson's accusers have told HuffPost Jenni Weinman is refuting and helping cover up (along with others in the Scientology community) his alleged crimes, via a campaign the women say includes threats and lies. One of her claims in particular is raising eyebrows: that Masterson couldn't have raped at least two of the women because he was in romantic relationships with them at the time. Chrissie Bixler was one of Masterson's exes (she was with him for six years), and she says he raped her twice when she was unconscious. Bixler was a Scientologist at the time (she's since left the church), and as Scientologists discourage followers from going to the cops, Bixler filed a report with the church about Masterson's alleged transgressions.

She says church officials told her because she was dating Masterson, she hadn't been raped. Late last year, Bixler tweeted about Masterson's and the church's pushback. Then came the phone call between Weinman and another accuser. In the recorded call, heard by HuffPost, Weinman pooh-poohs that victim's claims, then adds about Bixler: "They were boyfriend and girlfriend and they dated, and then they f---ed for a year after they broke up, so I don't think that [counts as rape]." Bixler tells HuffPost she slept with Masterson three times after they broke up, not for a year. Uproxx notes Bixler's husband has been posting his own recent tweets about Masterson, claiming the LAPD and TMZ are also part of the coverup. Weinman tells HuffPost in a statement: "I never saw anything but a consensual relationship between Danny and Chrissie," adding: "I would never cover up wrongdoing." (More Danny Masterson stories.)

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