The Advocate just published a bombshell report about renowned fashion photographer Rick Day.
In exclusive interviews with the magazine, Barrett Pall and Kai Braden both claim they were groomed and sexually assaulted by Day, whose glossy fashion spreads have been published in Elle, Vogue Italia, and GQ, when they were teenagers.
Pall alleges that Day first reached out to him in November 2007 via the online platform Model Mayhem. He said he was interested in shooting him for a coffee-table book.
In the message, which The Advocate obtained a screenshot of, Day assured Pall he was “not looking for a hook up … but I find you very cute and would love to shoot a hot sexy shot of you.”
Pall, who was 19 at the time, says he met Day for a shoot, which was held at Day’s apartment. It was just the two of them. While there, he claims Day got handsy and eventually performed an unwanted sex act on him.
The Advocate reports:
Day got on his knees, pulled out Pall’s semi-erect penis from his underwear and began masturbating him. Pall says he was stunned and frozen, but felt pressure to pretend he “was OK with it” in order to get through and obtain the photos. Pall tells The Advocate he was a virgin and this act was the first time he’d done anything sexual with a man — an experience he says was “robbed” from him. Day allegedly told Day to ejaculate on his face, and when he was finished, he offered Pall a shower to clean off. The shoot, which Pall says seemed to go on forever, was finally over.
Braden tells a similar story. He claims he was assaulted by Day in 2006, when he was just 18.
Like Pall, he arrived at the shoot to learn it was just the two of them. There were no other assistants, make-up artists, or anyone else around. In the middle of a shoot, Pall alleges Day pinned him to a wall with his “hand around my neck” and his “mouth to ear” and whispered “it was OK, that I should just relax.”
The Advocate reports:
“I remember he asked if I had ever had sex with a guy before, and I told him I had never had sex period,” the model says. Day, whose fingers were on Braden’s anus, “seemed to ease off when I told him that.” Braden claims he was pinned to the wall for at least two minutes until he eventually pushed the photographer off. “He seemed to have gotten the picture, and we wrapped up the shoot,” Braden says. “I tried to get out of there as quick as I can and keep my cool.”
Afterwards, Braden told his agents what had happened. He says they replied by saying, “Yeah, we know,… Rick is like that with guy [models], but he takes great pictures.”
“A photographer should have never felt comfortable enough to come up to me in the first place and repeatedly put his hands on my body without my permission, let alone sexually violate me,” Braden says.
Day declined multiple times to comment on the story.
Related: Why do people have so much trouble believing male victims of sexual assault?
h/t: The Advocate
barkomatic
This is sad to hear. It’s also angering that the agents for these models knew what these photographers were likely to do and sent them anyway without even a warning.
It’s sickening how predatory people can be around the young. It’s like they actually feel entitled to the bodies of people–like that’s part of their benefit package or something.
Curtispsf
“Oh Happy Day. Oh Happy Day”. NOT /|\
Virpilosus
If you’ve never been sexually abused you’ll never understand the inner terror and turmoil which accompanies the assault… the age of the victim is IMMATERIAL! I was in my 20s when violated two different times, both by professional people whom I implicitly trusted. I WAS FROZEN IN SHAME AND TERROR, and it took years to deal with it. I did not “just walk away,” because I was absolutely incapable of even moving a muscle during the action/s. I daresay only someone who has “been there” will truly understand the truth I am speaking.
fredo777
The number of folks who automatically discredit any claims of sexual abuse is astonishing and, frankly, a little pathetic. Excuses about the age of the victim, their musculature, gender, attractiveness, industry in which they work, level of fame, tax bracket, height, weight, environment where the incident took place, etc, etc, etc makes these detractors sound hellbent on excusing inappropriate behavior. It leads me to question their own concept of personal boundaries and whether they’ve been willing to cross them in the past (or present).
Cylest Brooks
I have deleted many victim-blaming comments here, and have banned several users for violating the comment policy. Like you, I am absolutely mystified by the number of men on this site who choose to blame victims rather than abusers.
brianlange
I modeled for remodeled for almost 2 years.. I got shoots with the top fashion houses. The old ducks made my life living hell. The more I resisted the more determined they got. One day on a final shoot for D &G I walked off the set and flew back to LAX It cost the fashion house $750,000 the old troll got fired and he ended up in gay por n making %45k a year instead ofnzz$500k. Yes he despised me & I am playing baseball in Pittsburgh fu ‘ll ride