US actor Michael Pitt, best known for starring in Dawson’s Creek and Boardwalk Empire, has been accused of sexual abuse, as well as attacking an ex-girlfriend with a block of cement.
The TV star, 44, was arrested on Friday night around 9pm in New York City and arraigned at Brooklyn Supreme Court on ‘two counts of first-degree sexual abuse and other related charges’, according to documents seen by the New York Post.
The incidents stem from four separate domestic incidents which allegedly took place between April 2020 and August 2021 at the actor’s home in Bushwick.
Pitt, who famously played Jimmy Darmody opposite Steve Buscemi on HBO’s hit drama Boardwalk Empire between 2010 and 2011, ‘forcibly fondled’ his former girlfriend, prosecutors allege, before – at a later date – sexually assaulting her and hitting her with a wooden plank.
He is then, in June 2021, accused of attacking her with a cinderblock – a concrete block with a hollow interior used in building – before, two months later in August 2021, strangling her.
TMZ separately detailed the charges against Pitt as ‘assault injury with a weapon sexually motivated, strangulation sexually motivated, sex abuse, and forcible compulsion’.
The Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Seven Psychopaths actor has pleaded not guilty to all charges and posted bail, which was set at $100,000.
Pitt’s lawyer told TMZ: ‘Unfortunately, we live in a world where somebody like Mr Pitt – an accomplished professional who would never so much as contemplate these crimes – can be arrested on the uncorroborated word of an unhinged individual.
‘In reality, this baseless claim is suspiciously raised some four or five years after the alleged incident, at a time when the two parties were in a completely consensual and voluntary relationship. This case will be dismissed.’
It’s not Pitt’s first brush with the law in recent years, after starring as Henry Parker in Dawson’s Creek from 1999 to 2000.
Pitt was previously arrested in July 2022 for assault and petty larceny after allegedly snatching a man’s phone out of his hand and repeatedly punching him in the head.
The man suffered minor injuries.
Later that year, in September, he was taken into police custody after an anonymous report of a male throwing items at people from the rooftop of a building.
The actor was apprehended at the scene but not charged after being deemed an ‘emotionally disturbed’ individual.
Video footage obtained by TMZ at the time showed Pitt being strapped to a gurney by EMS technicians after his public outburst before he was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Pitt’s most recent film credits include 2023’s Asphalt City (previously called Black Flies when it premiered at Cannes), opposite Sean Penn and Tye Sheridan, as well as Reptile with Benicio Del Toro and Justin Timberlake.
Day of the Fight, also released in 2023, saw him play a boxer on a journey of redemption after prison, and reunite with Boardwalk Empire alumni as it co-starred Buscemi and was written and directed by Jack Huston
Pitt is due back in court on his recent charges on June 17.
Metro has contacted reps of Pitt’s for comment.
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