English Teacher creator Brian Jordan Alvarez accused of assault by former collaborator
Ahead of the premiere of Brian Jordan Alvarez's critically acclaimed comedy English Teacher, his former webseries co-star Jon Ebeling posted on Instagram that "My personal experience with the creator of this show was much closer to the plot of Baby Reindeer than whatever this is." Now, he's detailed his allegations in full in a new piece for Vulture. Alvarez has denied the allegations.
Per the article, Alvarez and Ebeling were close friends when Alvarez cast Ebeling in his webseries The Gay And Wondrous Life Of Caleb Gallo. The plot points of the 2016 show apparently mimicked real life, in which Ebeling began dating Stephanie Koenig (a Caleb Gallo co-star and now writer and star of English Teacher) but also had a sexual encounter with Alvarez. Ebeling now says Alvarez put "insane pressure" on him to hook up and he felt that "this is what I needed to do to keep the peace, to keep seeing Steph, to stay on the show." Later, though Ebeling says he felt uncomfortable, both Alvarez and Koenig convinced him that the situation was okay; in correspondence provided to Vulture, Koenig writes that "He would never have done anything to hurt you. I think it all just felt right. And free."
Alvarez decided to include the incident in the webseries, which Ebeling agreed to. However, he says that when they were filming a scene in which Alvarez's character was supposed to mime a blowjob under a sheet, Alvarez actually performed oral sex on Ebeling. Ebeling froze in the moment and later told Koenig he felt like he'd been "raped." Through a representative, Alvarez claims all sexual contact with Ebeling was consensual. Alvarez's lawyer told Vulture that "Brian briefly made contact with Mr. Ebeling's penis under the covers, believing (correctly and justifiably in light of Brian's then-current sexual relationship with Mr. Ebeling) that Mr. Ebeling was fine with it." The lawyer also stated in a follow-up that Ebeling "consented verbally" to doing it "for real" beforehand, which Ebeling denies.
A representative for Alvarez shared a statement with The A.V. Club, maintaining that the "interactions with Jon Ebeling were always entirely consensual" and that Ebeling "unambiguously said as much on tape." The representative added that Alvarez "is currently taking legal advice as he considers his next steps" against both Ebeling's claims and against New York Magazine for printing them.
Though Ebeling told Koenig and other friends what happened and that he was uncomfortable with it, he says based on their reactions he "convinced myself this was a miscommunication." He went on to continue having a close relationship with Alvarez and collaborating with him and the rest of the friend group on additional projects. However, over time he reassessed the situation and reaffirmed his own belief that he'd been assaulted, sharing the story with others and eventually posting the allegations publicly.
You can read the full story, which includes an admission from Alvarez of harassing a fellow student at USC, here.
This story has been updated to include a statement from Alvarez's representation.