Legendary costume designer and six-time Tony Award winner William Ivey Long has been accused of sexual harassment and abuse by two different men, according to an explosive new report by NPR.
Court Watson and Michael Martin both say they were abused by Long between 1996 and 2002 when they were college students and working on a production in North Carolina called “The Lost Colony.”
Watson alleges that Long supplied him with alcohol and coerced him into having sex when he was unable to consent. The encounter, which he first detailed on Medium in March 2020, left him feeling “ashamed and humiliated”.
Meanwhile, Martin, who first spoke about the alleged abuse to Buzzfeed in 2018, says Long touched him inappropriately on nearly a dozen occasions and would frequently make sexually charged comments to him.
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One time, he claims Long reached down into his underwear and fondled his butt while praising his work.
“I was just so wounded,” he recalls to NPR. “With one hand, he was groping me, and with the other, he’s pointing out something that I did well.”
Although Watson and Martin both tried speaking out against Long in the past, they say he was “so revered” that there was no point in pushing the issue. Until now.
NPR also unearthed a long-buried 2002 lawsuit related to “The Lost Colony” that contains additional allegations of sexual misconduct against Long, including claims that he forced two other men to have sex with each other while a board member of the theater watched.
The lawsuit, which was ultimately settled out of court, also accuses Long of performing oral sex on a man against against his wishes and then asking him to find “young boys with whom Mr. Long could engage in homosexual activity.”
Long is best known for designing costumes for the Broadway revival of “Chicago,” as well as recent shows like “Beetlejuice” and “Tootsie.” From 2012 to 2016, he was the chairman of the American Theatre Wing, the organization that gives out the Tony Awards. Most recently, he worked on Diana: The Musical, which opened on Broadway this week.
In a statement, the producers of Diana: The Musical say they were aware of the allegations and mutually agreed to part ways with Long last summer so he could “address them in his own way.”
As for the costumer designer himself, his attorney says he “emphatically denies” both Martin and Watson’s allegations and was completely unaware of the 2002 lawsuit until last summer, but those accusations, too, are also false.
“In no instance is it acceptable for someone in a position of authority to take advantage of someone younger, someone who’s new to an industry,” Watson tells NPR. “It wasn’t OK 20 years ago, and it is certainly not OK now. And it is not OK to make allowances for certain people because they have some exceptional creative or artistic ability. That’s not a pass.”
Tombear
This is a very dangerous slippery slope for gay men. We grab each other’s buts all the time. We joke with sexual innuendos all the time. This is dangerous for gay men.
Openminded
Tom, I can understand your point. The problem is that this is basically the same thing that women complained about “straight” men doing to them. I’m old enough to remember when sexual innuendo was fairly commonplace. I truly believe that the vast majority of men who would throw sexual statements towards women had no intentions of actually physically assaulting the women. Back in that time, mental abuse didn’t exist in most men’s minds. If you didn’t actually touch her, you had done no harm was the thinking. It was only a matter of time until something like this came to the surface. It is a tough problem since so many people got away with it for so long, it was assumed it was acceptable behavior and therefore a few people took it to the next level and it just became worse as time passed. It reads like this guy took it way too far to be excused. He’s obviously much more than a flirty person and used his authority position to inflict harm on others for his amusement. I do tend to lump the “abusers from the past” into a group that likely grew worse over time due to not being properly punished for their misdeeds at the time of the abuse and therefore continued to escalate the degree of bad behavior. I can’t condone their behavior, but neither will I be quite as harsh with punishment as I will with someone who is currently being an abuser. There is a tiny bit of room to claim they didn’t realize the harm they were inflicting back years ago, but today, everyone should be well aware of how they should be treating others. This isn’t just dangerous for gay men, it’s dangerous for anyone with an ounce of sex drive, male or female.
Hank31
I’m gay and I don’t grab people’s butts (note the correct spelling) without permission. This is not a threat to gay men. It’s a threat to a destructive, libidinous subculture created by a small fraction of urban gay men, who then deluded themselves into thinking that their ugly creation was reflective of all gay people.
McSteve
This is not a slippery slope at all. Just because the unwanted, inappropriate physical contact gives pleasure to one person does not mean the other person has to tolerate it. It is sexual assault (and if you think it’s not, how often does it happen when the assaulter is not sexually attracted to the other person?). The person who does object is probably laughed off as being ‘uptight’ or ‘full of themself’. So many gay men think that sexual innuendo and grabbing is playful and fun. In fact, it gets tiresome very quickly for a lot of people. But, yes, there are those who are onboard and love that camaraderie. Just don’t assume that being gay equals being onboard.
djhavyk
I agree with you Tombear. As gay men, we have a culture of “everything is fair game” when it comes to our sexuality with other gay men. My friends and I joke that a little ass or dick grab is just saying hello (like a handshake for straight guys).
The real issue–which is the same for the women who have spoken up–is that these guys who are acting “inappropriately” are in a position of authority and have power and/or influence over the other person. I 100% get this distinction…but I can also acknowledge that the very thing that makes this inappropriate is the subject of COUNTLESS porn videos and fantasies by us men–on both sides of the situation. For all we know, all the other men that this guy worked with actually WELCOMED this kind of attention, so the line was blurred.
I shoot male boudoir images and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had guys want to get sexual during the shoot with me–to the point where it’s almost weird if the guy DOESN’T try something. Especially in the last couple years, I worry about one of these guys coming after me for doing something with them and I shut them down…but imagine having to work with beautiful men who are regularly trying to live out their “casting couch fantasy” (or, in a couple cases, they think it’s expected of them) and have to resist the temptation to indulge their advances.
Obviously we’re only hearing one side of these stories…and there’s always more than that. Obviously deliberately getting someone too drunk to say no is not really acceptable regardless of the person doing it–but something that we’ve all done or had done to us at the gay bar (Coyote Ugly moments LOL). But unless you are passed out drunk, you’re not going to do anything you don’t want to do just because you are intoxicated. If anything, your inhibitions come down and you act like like your true self. If he’s not happy with what his “true self” likes to do, that’s not this guy’s fault. Besides, don’t we tell people that they are still responsible for their actions whether they’re drunk or not? If the dude’s intentions were to get this guy drunk just so he could have sex with him, then I’m not okay with it…but did he have no choice but to drink with the guy? Couldn’t he have said no at some point?
Some of the other accusations seem awfully predatory…so I’m kinda think this guy might be kinda shady and deserving of being called out for his bad behavior, but I wasn’t in the room with them, so I don’t know for sure.
What I do know is that things are never as black and white as we like to think they are…and if #metoo is going to start including gay men, look out! We’re all in a whole world of trouble!
southernway
It’s been his pattern since the late 80s and sneaking off to Thailand for underage boys Taiwan and Miss Universe pageant and his close association with convicted pedo Make up designer Randy Mercer – birds of a feather.
justyouandi
Both Tombear and Openminded make good points and I appreciate Openminded’s thoughtful take. Long is nearly 75 and, in his day when he was coming up, everybody behaved in a way that we know now not to do. Gay culture has always been highly sexual even in casual interactions, which includes openly touching. Although some of what he is accused of is certainly over the top no matter in what decade it allegedly happened, I think that his behavior generally needs to be considered with the culture at the time in mind. And, yes, he should have adjusted his behavior as times changed, which it appears he did not do. I think that most people over the age of fifty can recall their own behaviors from years before that they would now be appalled and embarrassed by. So Long’s “jury” should be those people who are closer to his age who may have a similar personal history.
barryaksarben
I have to ask – how do you persuade two men of having sex in front of another man if they dont want to. I am an older gay man and NO one even those who have had authority over me ( I worked in all gay businesses in the late 70s in west hollywood) EVER got me to do anything I didnt want to do. I quit jobs over it and never looked back. part of life. This type of behavior ( I hate to inform any of a delicate nature ) will never go away. it will never be stopped. People will act badly and treat you unfairly – IF YOU LET THEM> Period end of sentence.
Cam
So blame the victim?
OhPlease
LONG OVERDUE. I am going to say this, having worked in several fields with gay and bi men who are open sexual harassers got away with everything but literal murder: Playing the gay card needs to STOP. NOW.
I worked for an Apple subcontractor in San Antonio with a young, gay trainer who not openly very blatantly sexually harassed very young men in the office daily, he fled into Mexico to avoid prosecution for aggravated sexual assault of a minor. An apparently bi supervisor in a newspaper very openly rubbed his crotch against male and female employees and another, who was a cross dresser, was a rapist who threatened careers to keep his job. My all time favorite was a transgendered Apple employee who drugged and raped a straight male coworker at a party attended by numerous coworkers and supervisors who didn’t back the victim up for fear of litigation.
Sorry, but the gay community MUST be held to the same standard as everyone else. We did not fight for legal rights just to demand exceptionalism to cover up criminal conduct. I could go on here, but I am getting ill just thinking of all the times I have seen this conduct get laughed off as a “gay thing.”
Barryaksarben, you have never been in the position of retaliation and blackballing, have you? Ask what it is like, especially when it involves criminal actions committed by a member of a “special interests” group and all of the political power that implies!
SeanR
“Just”? 2002 is “just”?
Tombear
Hank, I take it your butt( notice the correct spelling Penny Spellcheck) is too ugly to grab!
AZ71
I just dont understand this. I was an actor for decades. If something happened like this I would have smacked the guys hand away and moved away. These are adult men. I’m not condoning what this guy did at all. I just know as someone who was in the industry in similar situations it just never would have gotten to this, nor would I have felt abused years later. Nor was I so weak to have someone stroke my ass while he complementing me and then feel tragic about it later. I’ve had auditions where directors asked me to strip to my underwear. If I felt the part needed to see my body I did it. If I felt it didn’t i refused. The rest of the allegations are justified if he was purposefully searching out younger guys to manipulate. But where is the self confidence and standing your ground? If I didn’t want or like something I would have ended it immediately.
Tombear
So tell me the next time a guy in your circle or at your bar grabs your ass are you going to sue him for sexual assault? Hey, legally that is sexual assault.
SFMike
The attitude now is just let’s cancel men and everything will be OK. You know because they always end up creating a “threat to a destructive, libidinous subculture created by a small fraction of urban gay men, who then deluded themselves into thinking that their ugly creation was reflective of all gay people.” So much dialogue now is so anti-sex it’s truly appalling.
Cam
No, actually the conversation is, “Don’t go grabbing somebody’s d*ck when they don’t want you to, work for you, etc.”
Not really that difficult.
wooly101
I will never understand why people need to accuse others after decades of the actual incident. If you had an issue you should address it at the time. If what allegedly happened is true, I can’t believe the guy went to pieces over a little ass grabbing. It wasn’t like he was raped at gun point. This is so stupid.
Bromancer7
Who are all these men who are so easily “forced” into having sex against their will by an old queen?