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Florence Pugh said she was 'feeling uneasy and sick and anxious' following a lawsuit filed by a former Cornell University student who claims she was sexually assaulted by seven fraternity members while drugged nearly two years ago.
The English actress, 30, took to Instagram Sunday with an extended statement after the former Cornell student filed a civil lawsuit earlier this month in New York Supreme Court against the seven men and the school.
She claimed in her filing that the Chi Phi fraternity members had used Snapchat to summon one another to participate in the assault, which has left her traumatized. A lawyer for one of the accused students has denied all of the allegations.
'After reading about the young woman who was gang raped at her college by her friend and school peers,' the Academy Award-nominated actress said, 'I’m feeling uneasy and sick and anxious.'
The Daily Mail has reached out to representatives for Pugh for further comment on the story.
Pugh said that the alleged incident was one which should spur a strong and vocal reaction from all people, regardless of gender.
Florence Pugh, 30, said she was 'feeling uneasy and sick and anxious' following a lawsuit filed by a former Cornell University student who claims she was sexually assaulted by seven fraternity members while drugged nearly two years ago. Pictured Friday in London
'I’m processing quietly and watching everything and everyone and every man,' Pugh said. 'This is really the moment where we need our men to be as horrified and as sickened as us.
'You need to be leading conversations about how we change the allowance and complicity of this behaviour as much as we are. How can you expect us to trust that it’s "not all men" when in moments like this, many of you stay quiet?'
Pugh said that those complicit in the alleged attack on the woman, who was 20 at the time of the October 2024 incident, 'should be looked at with serious concern.'
She added, 'They are as evil as those planning it. To know that a torture as violent as rape is about to happen "upstairs" and not do ANYTHING ABOUT IT, is sick, cowardly and cold.'
The woman said in her suit that she reported the alleged incident to campus police about three weeks later. She said the school on November 8, 2024 suspended the fraternity and seven members, with two ultimately expelled - and others offered the chance to pen essays in contrition.
Pugh said she found the school's reaction to be 'unacceptable' to the 'destroying of a body and killing of a soul' alleged in the incident.
'All it takes is write a quick "I’m so sorry I raped a girl while she was drugged with my friends, we thought it would be fine?" essay and you’re good to go!' Pugh said. 'We are not hard enough on those that want to damage human lives.'
Pugh said that she saluted the people at the school for 'fighting for that girl' and 'exposing those boys' accused in the criminal attack, noting that 'they should not be allowed to walk freely like the rest of us who treasure and care for souls.'
Pugh, pictured in London Friday, said that the alleged incident was one which should spur a strong and vocal reaction from all people, regardless of gender
The Ivy League school on September 21 issued a statement in response to the lawsuit 'concerning the deeply disturbing allegations of sexual assault involving members of the student community that occurred in 2024'
The actress said that multiple educational institutions have 'repeatedly' failed women and emboldened men 'that they can do extreme harm and that they won’t be harmed in return.'
Pugh said that she was 'no longer tired' but now 'enraged by schools protecting boys, in fear of their futures being wrecked.
'What about the life that those girls then have to endure, with the knowledge that his reputation is more precious than her truth? Or to feel that no one with the power to do something cares that you were abused. It’s further soul-destroying.'
She added that the people who 'protect and lightly sentence men that rape and destroy, should be punished and watched closely.'
Pugh said that situations as such continue to illustrate critical gender inequality issues in society, stating that 'there is no equality until we can say we feel safe.'
She wrapped up in saying, 'We are the life force of this earth, start f***ing protecting us. Be angry for us. Please.'
The Ivy League school on September 21 issued a statement in response to the lawsuit 'concerning the deeply disturbing allegations of sexual assault involving members of the student community that occurred in 2024.'
The school noted that a task force on campus sexual assault 'was launched shortly after this incident,' and that 'several of the recommendations have already been implemented'
Pugh said that situations as such continue to illustrate critical gender inequality issues in society, stating that 'there is no equality until we can say we feel safe'
School officials 'investigated and adjudicated the allegations consistent with university policies,' the university said, adding that the fraternity chapter 'remains barred from our campus.'
A university spokesperson said that 'federal privacy law prohibits Cornell from disclosing specific information regarding individual students and we therefore are unable to make a public statement on any other disciplinary response.
'Violations of university policies could lead to sanctions up to and including suspension or expulsion. We will respond in detail through the legal process... we take sexual violence extremely seriously.'
The school noted that a task force on campus sexual assault 'was launched shortly after this incident,' and that 'several of the recommendations have already been implemented, while others are in development with oversight by a university implementation committee.'
English (US) ·