Rovier Carrington – great grandson of Three Stooges actor Moe Howard – is suing Viacom for US$100 million. Carrington alleges that he was raped and sexually assaulted by two former executives of the company.

The alleged offenders are the former head of Paramount Brad Gray (now deceased), and Brian Graden – a former MTV executive. Carrington claims he was raped by Gray, and that Graden offered him career opportunities in exchange for sex.

On top of this, the lawsuit also claims that Graden stole ideas from Carrington and based MTV properties off of them. The writer claims that the contact with these men resulted in him being blacklisted from Viacom and further opportunities in entertainment.

The suit claims a young Carrington had “The pedigree of a star” and these interactions and the subsequent blacklisting damaged that. After the alleged incidents with Gray, the young writer was sent a non-disclosure agreement which he refused to sign.

The detailed complaint also discusses how Carrington met Graden through a gay social media dating app, and the two began to discuss the possibilities of a reality show. Graden was not working with Viacom at the time. It’s claimed that after agreeing to have sex with Graden, Viacom ceased their blacklisting of Carrington:

“Viacom’s blacklisting of [Carrington] only ceased once [he] agreed to have sex with Graden, and obey him, for months, under his manipulation and control, until finally Graden directly called Sumner Redstone, and [Carrington] was purportedly removed from Viacom’s blacklist,”

A representative for Viacom responded to the suit telling The Hollywood Reporter “We take allegations of this sort seriously, and are reviewing the complaint.”

A close friend of Gray’s and former Warner Bros. chairman Bob Daly said the suit was “far past the pale of anything I have heard. This seems absurd.”

Brian Graden’s attorney Larry Stein also gave a statement to THR: “This sensationalised and meritless lawsuit is particularly egregious… The complaint, which reads more like fiction than fact, seems to be based more upon Mr. Carrington’s entitled belief that he is ‘Hollywood royalty’ with a ‘pedigree of a star’ because he claims his great grandfather was one of the Three Stooges, than on facts.”

Stein called the claim “Wildly untethered to reality.” The lawsuit asks for US$50 million in actual and compensatory damages as well as US$50 million in exemplary and punitive damages.

The article was originally published on The Industry Observer