Ruby Rose accuses Katy Perry of sexual assault

Yesterday, the Complex Music account on Threads posted about Katy Perry’s reaction to Justin Bieber’s bare-bones, YouTube-heavy Coachella set. Little did they know the next big story of the week would manifest in their comment section.

Shortly after the initial post went up, Ruby Rose of Orange Is The New Black fame replied, “Katy Perry sexual assaulted me at spice market nightclub in Melbourne. Who gives a shit what she thinks.” She went on to elaborate: “[Katy] saw me ‘resting’ on my best friends lap to avoid her and bent down, pulled her underwear to the side and rubbed her disgusting vagina on my face until my eyes snapped open and I projectile vomitted [sic] on her.” 

Rose said she has since told the story publicly but changed it to be a “funny little drunk story,” due to not knowing how to come to terms with it—and later on, when Perry helped Rose get her US visa, Rose felt further pressure to keep the incident a secret, so she stayed mum. “I was only in my early 20s,” she wrote in another reply. “I’m now 40. It has taken almost 2 decades to say this publicly. Though I am so grateful to have made it long enough to find my voice, it just shows how much of an impact trauma and sexual assault takes.” 

However, Rose is “not interested in filing a report over this, not when I haven’t even filed a report for the numerous rapes at the hands of grown men.” Katy Perry is more than welcome to sue her for slander, Rose says, but claims that Perry won’t “because it happened, I have photos and it was literally in public and witnessed by multiple people. Plus there is so much more that happened in the years leading up to her silly song she won’t want me discussing.” (The “silly song” seems to be a reference to a 2017 Twitter spat between the pair after Rose dissed Perry’s track “Swish Swish.”) “The psychological manipulation was strong with that one,” Rose finished.

Later, Rose posted a thread declaring that “Today I will be walking into a police station to see if any of my experiences can be investigated. I imagine they are past their statute of limitations, but all the more reason to try. I have a long list, it will probably take more out of me than I’m prepared for, but I will come back here to update others on the process, as soon as I am ready.” Six hours later, she updated followers, posting “I did it.” This all seems to be referencing more than just the Perry incident, with Rose instead going to the police to speak out against multiple instances of assault and misconduct committed by multiple “big names” (“I said names inside the station that hold much more power than me and frankly, freak me out,” she wrote in a following post). Rose finally said she will write about the process of reporting later on (“once I get my strength back”), but overall “was surprised to find the reporting process to be ok.” 

Earlier today, a representative for Katy Perry vehemently denied Rose’s claims to Rolling Stone: “The allegations being circulated on social media by Ruby Rose about Katy Perry are not only categorically false, they are dangerous, reckless lies. Ms. Rose has a well-documented history of making serious public allegations on social media against various individuals, claims that have repeatedly been denied by those named.”

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