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Actor Craig McLachlan accused of indecent assault and sexual harassment during Rocky Horror Show

Actor Craig McLachlan accused of indecent assault and sexual harassment during Rocky Horror Show
January 9, 2018

Victoria Police have confirmed an investigation is underway into allegations that award-winning Australian actor Craig McLachlan committed multiple sexual offences while performing in the hit musical Rocky Horror Show in 2014.

The confirmation comes after a joint ABC/Fairfax investigation revealed that three women from the production claim McLachlan took advantage of his raunchy role as Dr Frank-N-Furter to indecently assault, intimidate and harass them, both on and off stage.

Two of the women said they complained to senior production staff at the time but said nothing was done.

Their claims include that McLachlan pulled a cast member's underpants aside and kissed her buttocks during a performance, that he exposed himself to another actress and kissed a third woman without her permission.

He is also accused of reaching up an actress's skirt while she was on stage and he was backstage. The women allege he also bullied and intimidated some cast members.

The women have hired a lawyer to request an investigation into their claims, and two of the women have made separate reports about McLachlan's alleged behaviour to the Victorian Police.

Detectives from Melbourne's Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team are investigating allegations dating back to 2014, a spokesperson from Victoria Police has confirmed.

The spokesperson advised "as the investigation is ongoing it would be inappropriate to make any further comments."

McLachlan, aged 52, has strenuously denied all the allegations.

In an email to the ABC he stated "frankly, they seem to be simple inventions, perhaps made for financial reasons, perhaps to gain notoriety. In either event, they are to the best of my knowledge utterly and entirely false."

He said he has talked to some of the production staff at the time who cannot recall any of the alleged incidents the women have described.

The 2018 production of Rocky Horror Show opened in Adelaide on New Year's Eve with McLachlan in the starring role.

The show is produced by the Gordon Frost Organisation (GFO), which has produced many hit musicals including The Sound of Music, Annie, Wicked, Grease and, currently, The Book of Mormon and The Wizard of Oz.

Erika Heynatz, Christie Whelan Browne and Angela Scundi, who played opposite McLachlan in the 2014 production of Rocky Horror Show, asked that the GFO agree to take part in an independent investigation by two senior barristers.

The women told the ABC they have never sought money and they want reassurances the current cast of the show is not at any risk.

However, lawyers for the GFO have been resistant to their requests and have threatened to sue the women for defamation.

The ABC reported that it had seen documentation including emails, texts and a doctor's referral which prove the women complained to others at the time.

Image: Craig McLachlan (right) performing in the Rocky Horror Show. Courtesy of Facebook/Rocky Horror Show.

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