Comedian James Veitch Dropped By HBO & Quibi After Sexual Assault Accusations

After over seven detailed accusations of sexual assault and rape were published in a story on The Hollywood Reporter, comedian James Veitch has been dropped by his agency, HBO and Quibi. The accusations were over a string of previously unreported incidents around 20 years ago at Sarah Lawrence College, which Veitch attended. He has been accused of verbally coercing and physically forcing multiple younger women into acts of intimacy and sex. Kim Master’s THR article details an effort to expose Veitch spearheaded by Sarah Laurence alums Meghan Klien and Jael Simonson-Tunick, both alleged victims of Veitch.

Prior to the September THR article, Kristen Gull, another Sarah Laurence alum who allegedly had been assaulted by Veitch, had also tried to alert his growing fan-base of his actions. After his appearance on Conan in 2018, she not only tweeted angrily about his reputation in college, but started a Facebook group called “James Veitch Is a Piece of Shit.”

@ConanOBrien did you know that you hired @veitchtweets known sexual predator? #metoo why not give someone who has been prey of his a chance, too? My tight five is ready to go. #vagsoverveitch #rapist #jamesveitchisapredator #rape #TimesUp #feminism #men #MeToo

— Kristen Gull (@KayGull) March 27, 2018

Neither her tweet nor the Facebook group ultimately gained much traction, and Gull did not receive a response from Conan O’Brien or his team at the time, but Gull’s experience is one of the many included in Master’s story.

“Team Coco takes these allegations very seriously,” a spokesperson for O’Brein’s production company told THR in response to the recent accusations, expressing support for HBO Max’s decision to pull James Veitch: Straight To VHS from the platform.

“We were deeply disturbed to learn of these allegations of unacceptable behavior by James Veitch,” a spokesperson for HBO Max said in a statement about pulling the comedy special.

The Quibi show Veitch was set to host, QTalks, reportedly plans to edit him out of already filmed episodes and push the release of the show to a later date.

There are no plans to remove Veitch’s remaining ongoing radio show, James Veitch’s Contractual Obligation, from BBC Sounds.

“The series is online as part of our archive of radio programming and it is not currently in production,” said a BBC spokesperson. “Any future programmes will be kept under review.”

Veitch’s former agency, WME, has not released a statement on the allegations or their decision to drop Veitch.

Though Veitch himself has declined to make a statement about the THR article or accusations, sources close to him have said he denies the allegations.