Craig McLachlan says accuser spoke of his ‘perky bubble butt’
Craig McLachlan says one of the women who has accused him of indecent acts during a Melbourne stage production often remarked about his “buttocks” and once told him: “Hey mister, that’s a great arse.”
Police & Courts
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Gold Logie-winning actor Craig McLachlan claims it would have been “physically impossible” for him to have indecently assaulted his co-stars during a live performance in the Melbourne stage production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
McLachlan, 54, was playing Frank-n-Furter in the popular theatre show when he was accused of indecently assaulting four female actors on and off stage.
Giving evidence for the first time in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday, he vehemently denied the allegations.
The former Neighbours and Home And Away star revealed how he was “devastated” and “deeply distressed” on hearing the women’s claims he had inappropriately touched or kissed them.
In a bid to debunk allegations from one woman that he traced and touched her genital area during the production, a video recording of the scene was played in court.
McLachlan’s barrister, Stuart Littlemore, QC, who appeared with the Australian actor via video link from Sydney due to the coronavirus pandemic, said the three-minute clip was proof the woman’s allegations were “a total fabrication”.
At the moment she alleges McLachlan groped her, the star of the show said he uses one hand to make a sound effect on his lips, and the other hand is holding a cigarette prop.
If he did, “it could have only been accidental”, he said.
He said allegations he kissed her right buttock would be “physically impossible” in the position she was in.
“It didn’t happen,” he said, adding how two crew members and another cast were in a position to see what was happening during the scene.
In a full day of giving evidence, McLachlan also revealed how another of his accusers would often remark about his “perky bubble butt” and once grabbed his “pecks” claiming how he had bigger breasts than her.
“Hey mister, that’s a great arse. Keep squatting babe, it’s working for you,” McLachlan recalled the woman saying.
He said the woman was “an active participant in all the shenanigans and tomfoolery backstage” — with the crew and cast often being affectionate with each other, kissing and hugging and playing pranks and jokes on one another.
A third accuser, he said, would often attend his dressing room uninvited “in a state of undress” — adding how she was wearing “just knickers and a bra” — and would shower him in “hugs, playful punches, flicks to my bottom”.
“Sometimes she would straddle your thigh and other times she would recline and sit on your lap,” McLachlan said.
One time when she sat on his lap, he recalled her saying: “I better not linger too long, I might leave a snail trail.”
He admitted he had hugged and kissed her “many times” but dismissed it as common backstage antics among performers with no sexual connotation intended.
While all the allegations hurt him, McLachlan said he was most upset by those levelled against him by a woman he deemed a longstanding friend of him and his partner, Vanessa Scammell.
Such was their close friendship, he spoke of how she was “the most vulgar woman” he knew and how she would send him photos of her faeces, and sitting on the toilet with her knickers around her knees.
He said there were scenes in the production where he was directed to run his hand up her leg and under her skirt.
“This was performed every night,” he said.
Allegations of vampire kisses — in which he explained were kisses on the neck in the Transylvanian theme of the production — were also commonplace backstage.
“The vampire kisses right from the get go, became a common bit of horseplay among the cast,” he said.
“I may well have delivered a vampire kiss full of silly sound effects. I would have been looking for nothing more than a laugh.”
He said he did not have any sexual interest in the women.
The hearing, before magistrate Belinda Wallington, continues on Wednesday.
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