Aziz Ansari Responds To Sexual Assault Allegations: ‘I Took Her Words To Heart’
Actor, director, author and comedian Aziz Ansari, made history on January 7th, at the Golden Globes winning a Golden Globes Best Actor award in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy, becoming the first Asian-American to do so. He won the coveted title for his performance in the TV series, Master of None, a Netflix comedy original, he co-wrote with Alan Yang.
During his acceptance speech, Ansari didn’t necessarily make reference to the historical feat, although he did drop a sly comment about the critics who didn’t see him snagging the win for his performance during season two of Master of None. “I genuinely didn’t think I would win because all the websites said I was going to lose.” It was his second nomination in the category and as he said on the stage, “I’m really glad we won this cause it would really suck if I lost twice in a row – it would have been a really shitty moment for me.”
After thanking his co-author, Alan Yang, Ansari said, “The only reason my acting is good in that show is because everyone else holds me up the whole time,” he also said, in thanking his fellow cast-members.
“I want to thank Italy for all the amazing food we ate in season two,” Ansari said of his carb-loaded performance. “And I want to thank my parents for giving me so much love.” His mother Fatima and father Shoukath have played real life roles in his series where Ansari plays Dev Shah, a 30-year old actor in New York.
The series moves from the personal to the political, featuring his parents and friends, and in Season 2, his desire to go to Italy to learn how to make pasta, a love story that turns from a friendship into an intense love relationship. Various segments in the series deal with serious issues of immigrant lives and cultures, growing up in America, women’s rights, equality, LGBTQ rights, and racism in the film industry.
Aziz Ansari was born in Columbia, South Carolina, to Fatima, a medical office worker, and Shoukath, a gastroenterologist. His family is from Tamil Nadu, India. He graduated from NYU as a business major in 2004. He graduated from the South Carolina Governor’s School for Math and Science in Hartsville, SC. He previously attended Marlboro Academy, a private school in his home town of Bennettsville, SC.
Starting out in television like the hit comedy Parks and Recreation (2009), he later had bit parts in the films I Love You, Man (2009), Funny People (2009), and Get Him to the Greek(2010), among others, before co-starring in the comedy 30 Minutes or Less (2011).
Meanwhile, after being accused of sexual misconduct by an unnamed photographer he went on a date with last year, Aziz Ansari says he’s taking the woman’s words to heart. The 23-year-old woman told Babe she met the Master of None comedian at a party after the Emmy Awards last September, where the two flirted and took photos of each other, and he asked for her phone number. She says they exchanged texts when she returned home to Brooklyn and went on a date a little more than a week later. “I said ‘I don’t want to feel forced because then I’ll hate you, and I’d rather not hate you,’ ” she says she told Ansari.
In a statement emailed to HuffPost through his representative, the comedian confirmed several of the details mentioned in the babe piece, but said he believed a sexual encounter between the two was “completely consensual.”
“In September of last year, I met a woman at a party. We exchanged numbers. We texted back and forth and eventually went on a date. We went out to dinner, and afterwards we ended up engaging in sexual activity, which by all indications was completely consensual.
“The next day, I got a text from her saying that although ‘it may have seemed okay,’ upon further reflection, she felt uncomfortable. It was true that everything did seem okay to me, so when I heard that it was not the case for her, I was surprised and concerned. I took her words to heart and responded privately after taking the time to process what she had said. “I continue to support the movement that is happening in our culture. It is necessary and long overdue.”
