Noel Clarke is trying to create “moral equivalence” between his alleged sexual misconduct and the behaviour of his accusers, the high court has heard.
Giving evidence in his libel claim against the Guardian, the 49-year-old actorclaimed that some of his accusers voluntarily engaged in or initiated sexually loaded banter, were promiscuous and bragged about their sexual exploits.
On the third day of cross-examination, Gavin Millar KC, representing the Guardian, said to him: “You do this repeatedly, you turn the allegation back on the woman. It’s a sort of moral equivalence, that ‘she’s as bad as I am’.”
Millar said “time and again” Clarke sought ways to turn the allegations made against him back on his accusers.
Clarke said he had told the truth and brought up women’s behaviour where it was relevant.
“In this world we’re in right now, if a man makes a remote misstep, he is done,” Clarke told the court.
Clarke was asked about a Doctor Who convention in Bournemouth in 2016 where he sat next to a volunteer, Lisa Graham, and was said to have:
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Touched her on her thighs including between her legs.
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Said they should go to the mezzanine floor above to have sex.
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Rated women out of 10 for their sexual attractiveness.
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Said of a pregnant woman that he would “bang that” because she could not get pregnant again.
Clarke said Graham “was involved in the conversation [rating women] voluntarily” and that he had made a comment about a pregnant woman but not that specifically alleged.
Millar said: “This is your strategy: ‘I might be bad but the woman is just as bad.’”
Clarke responded: “I did that when I believed it’s true.”
Clarke, the writer and producer of the Kidulthood trilogy, said he had only tapped Graham on her knees to indicate a fan was lingering too long.
“The touching is not correct and the invite to go to a public mezzanine is nonsense,” said Clarke.
He said: “Some people want to be involved in what they deem to be a noble cause.”
The court also heard that Clarke is alleged to have exposed his penis on a music video shoot for the rap duo Krept and Konan near Angel underground station in north London in 2016.
Two women, Alice* and Ella*, who worked for Lionsgate, which commissioned Clarke’s company to do the shoot, were present. Millar said to Clarke: “You repeatedly made sexual comments to her [Alice], to the effect that she liked having sex with black men.”
Clarke denied doing so and said the women had initiated conversation about celebrities’ penises and a WhatsApp group called “dick detectives”.
Millar said: “You exposed your penis to her.”
Clarke replied that he did not but when Alice said to him that he had a little penis and Ella urged him to show them his, he undid his brown belt as a joke. “It was the flap of my belt,” he said.
Millar told the court it was the prospect of Clarke receiving a Bafta award in 2021 that “pushed them [his accusers] over the edge … they decided to tell the truth at last”.
Clarke is suing GNM over seven articles and a podcast published between April 2021 and March 2022 in which more than 20 women accused him of sexual misconduct.
The trial continues.
* Not their real names
Source: theguardian.com
