Reality star and model Claudia Jordan exposed an unnamed Black Hollywood director for drugging her friend and his alleged sexual assault attempt on her.
The former Real Housewives of Atlanta cast member thumbed through the biggest 2023 scandals, including the Diddy and Cassie situation, amid an Instagram Live session.
She moved on to money and power and how she could’ve had more influence in the industry if she had taken the “shortcut” route or stayed in the rooms with “locked doors.”
“I’m too lazy to be a he,” she added.
After a viewer asked which entertainment personnel closed (and locked) doors during auditions, Claudia responded that she had called a few people out, including producer Steven Seagal. In 2014, she claimed Segal persistently asked her to remove her shirt during an audition and forced her on his lap. Claudia allegedly escaped by telling Seagal she had stomach cramps and promised to return another time.
Without naming the Black director, the 50-year-old exposed his sexual assault of her and her friend. She also averred that she wouldn’t expose any names.
“There was another director, a Black guy; he didn’t ever really blow up that big, but he has done some stuff,” she said. “He actually drugged one of my friends, and, again, I tell y’all things, but I don’t expose them all the way. I say the part that I’ve been allowed to say.”
The Hollywood director reportedly still follows the reality star, and she paused her story to address him. “Motherf—r. Your time’s going to come…I’m just letting you know right now your time will come.”
Claudia acknowledged that she couldn’t make victims come forward but affirmed she would support them. According to the Claudia Jordan Show host, she wasn’t drugged but
“He didn’t drug me; he just locked the door on me, tried to make me take off my shirt in the audition, and read topless. I said, ‘Absolutely not.’ And I was about to cry, and I ended up getting out.”
She continued, “I’m just saying, he didn’t rape my friend, but he drugged her…and she escaped and flagged down a police officer. [The Hollywood director] gave her a bottle of water, right? I don’t know if he knows this, but she had the water tested, and it tested positive for the date rape drug—GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyric acid).”
Claudia added that she and her friend had been drugged by someone in the music business, promising that it would be exposed.
Sexual exploitation experiences like the ones Claudia Jordan and her friend survived are unfortunately common in the Hollywood fame realm.
They can only be described as the infamous “casting couch,” a euphemism used to describe influential figures in the entertainment industry demanding sexual favors from aspiring actors and actresses in exchange for screen roles, also known as sexual coercion, a form of sexual assault.
According to Jezebel, the affiliation of sex and performers jumps back to the start of brothels and progresses over the years.
“Casting Couch” didn’t become prominent in Hollywood until the early 1900s because the entertainment biz was highly advertised toward women, providing work opportunities. Many vulnerable women moved to California to be in the entertainment industry, and the hundreds of filmmaking companies rendered it possible. But those LLCs would decrease as the years progressed and the door to fame narrowed. Heads of the surviving companies gained more power, enabling them to use it to lure aspiring actresses with career-expanding promises behind closed doors and sexually exploit them.
Casting Couch has gained more mainstream attention over the years. However, the severity of the sexual abuse and assault surrounding it is still overlooked today—despite children being involved and the existence of drug-affiliated sexual misconduct cases. Hell, it’s a porn category now.
But the peak of the #MeToo movement in 2017 aimed its fury at the casting couch antics when A-list celebrities like Cara Delevingne, Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Lupita Nyong’o, and Gwyneth Paltrow accused producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct, and he was found guilty for his sexual abuse.
Black social activist Tarana Burke started the Me Too movement in 2006 to support women of color who have endured sexual assault and sexual abuse. But the 2017 movement only saw a handful of Black celebrities speaking out. According to Burke, Black female entertainers have more to lose than their white counterparts if they speak out.
“The stakes are higher in many instances for us than they are for a lot of other women,” Burke said. “That creates a dynamic where you have women of color who have to think a little bit differently about what it means for them to come forward in cases of sexual harassment.”
On Oct. 19, 2017, Nyong’o published an article in The New York Times about how Weinstein persistently tried to get intimate with her. The first attempt was in his bedroom, where he offered to massage her, but she offered to massage him to be in control and aware of his hands. He then started to undress himself despite her protest.
The second time, Weinstein bluntly told her he had a private hotel room and wanted them to finish their meals (ordered from the hotel’s restaurant) in the room. The Black Panther actress declined, and the producer made it crystal clear he would not help her advance in her career and didn’t think she would get anywhere. She landed her first feature in 12 Years a Slave in 2013 and won her first Academy Award in 2014.
Nyong’o isn’t the only Black actress who’s dealt with sexual assault by a producer or casting director.
In 2013, Black British actress Thandie Newton told CNN that a director asked an 18-year-old her to sit with her legs apart and play with herself for her audition tape in a locked room.
“The camera was positioned where it could see up my skirt,” she told the outlet. The unnamed director then showed her tape to “interested parties” at his house.
Sexual abuse and sexual assault became common in the entertainment industry. But women like Nyong’o stand their ground and say “no.” However, these offenders can’t respect a “no” and, instead, aim for younger victims and drug women for easier control. And since many of these aggressors are prominent public figures, it’s not easy for a woman to go public alone and stain the celebrity’s public image and tell the world what happened to them. We’ve seen the Beehive obliterate Beyoncé haters!
Once one woman tells her story, more women speak up.
The Cosby Show actor Bill Cosby had over 60 women come forward accusing him of drug-facilitated sexual assault, sexual battery, sexual misconduct, child sexual abuse, etc.
Superfly actor Kaalan Walker was convicted of sexual abuse and sexual assault in 2022, using his celebrity status and promises to coerce several women.
Although Claudia Jordan’s allegations are claims, the entertainment industry isn’t exactly known to be lollipops and butterflies.
