Rocky Horror actor says Craig McLachlan accuser ‘may have had other motives’
A Rocky Horror actor has cast aspersions on one of Craig McLachlan’s accusers, saying she “may have had other motives” for reporting the alleged assaults years after they occurred, a court has heard.
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One of Craig McLachlan’s accusers “may have had other motives” when reporting to police the Australian actor indecently assaulted her on the set of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, a court has heard.
Brendan Irving, an actor in the stage production, told Melbourne Magistrates’ Court yesterday one complainant only reported it three years later when she failed to get a part in another run of the musical.
Mr Irving said the woman felt that McLachlan, 54, had something to do with her not being cast.
“She started making threats there and then,” Mr Irving said, adding she implied this was the push she needed to file a complaint about McLachlan’s behaviour in the earlier stage production.
Mr Irving said he was “devastated” the woman decided to make a complaint about incidents she had earlier told him weren’t serious enough to report, because “her ego was bruised” by not getting into the Rocky Horror Picture Show again.
He said he considered the woman a friend.
Pressed further about what he was suggesting, he said: “Yes, my evidence does suggest there is some other motives that go beyond the truth. My evidence suggests … that there may be more to it.”
The woman alleges that, while performing alongside McLachlan, who had the lead role of Frank-N-Furter, he put his tongue in her mouth in an unscripted kiss during a live show in Melbourne.
She also claims when she called him out backstage, he threatened her, saying he could end her career.
McLachlan denies the allegations.
He is also fighting accusations by three other co-stars: one alleges he inappropriately touched her during a scene on stage, another claims he put his hand up her leg on stage, while another said he kissed her without her consent offstage.
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He has pleaded not guilty to all 16 charges, including counts of indecent assault, common assault, and one count of attempted assault.
John Frost AM, whose company Gordon Frost Organisation produced the show, told the court yesterday he had not heard of any complaints about McLachlan until he received media inquiries last year.
He called McLachlan the dream actor for any producer and that he cast him in the role because “the country adores him”.
“Craig is a very good employee. He doesn’t complain. He works very hard,” Mr Frost said.
The hearing continues.