MTV has suspended production on 'Catfish: The TV Show' after a woman who appeared on the show alleged that she was sexually harassed by its host, Nev Schulman, throughout filming.
MTV has suspended production on Catfish: The TV Show after a woman who appeared on the show alleged that she was sexually harassed by its host, Nev Schulman, throughout filming. Schulman has denied the allegations.
Ayissha Morgan, who appeared on the show in 2015, went public with her accusations in a video posted on May 12 on YouTube. Morgan claimed that the show's "main person" relentlessly hit on her during production of her episode, questioned her about being a lesbian and also propositioned her for sex.
"I'm shook because the way you portray yourself on TV is totally different then the jacka** you are in person ... he was just, like, pushing and pushing and pushing," Morgan claims in the video. "And just kept saying, like, 'I don't feel you're a lesbian. I feel like you need to reevaluate, and I'm the person you should do it with,' like, anything you can possibly say to make someone feel extremely uncomfortable."
In a second video, Morgan claims a production assistant, whom she refers to as "Carol," later got her drunk and that she woke up and Carol was on top of her. The next morning, Morgan says that her alleged harasser told her in his hotel room, 'I heard what happened with you and Carol last night ... how about you do what you did to Carol but on me?' before grabbing her arm. Morgan claims she pulled her arm away and left the hotel room.
In a statement to ET on Thursday, an MTV spokesperson said the network is now conducting an investigation, and that production on the show has been paused.
“We take these allegations very seriously,” the statement reads. “We’re working with Critical Content, our third party production company, to conduct a thorough investigation, and we’ve put a pause on shooting until the investigation is completed.”
Schulman denied the allegations in his own statement to The Daily Beast, who was first to report the news.
“The behavior described in this video did not happen and I'm fortunate that there are a number of former colleagues who were present during this time period who are willing to speak up with the truth,” Schulman said. “I have always been transparent about my life and would always take responsibility for my actions -- but these claims are false.”
Schulman, 33, has been the host and executive producer of Catfish since 2012. In the show, Schulman and his filmmaking partner, Max Joseph, investigate whether people are telling the truth about who they say they are in their online relationships.
Last July, Schulman married Laura Perlongo in the backyard of his father's home in East Hampton, New York. The couple share 1-year-old daughter Cleo together.
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