Sheryl Lee Ralph Source: Paras Griffin / Getty
Sheryl Lee Ralph recently revealed she was sexually assaulted by a famous TV judge and multiple witnesses saw it.
Abbott Elementary’s Sheryl Lee Ralph recently dropped by Way Up With Angela Yee and shared a shocking story in hopes of encouraging other actresses to stand up for themselves. According to the star, the unnamed man tongue-kissed her without consent.
“I’m at a very public place. I was suited. I had my suit on. I was handling my business for the television show I was on at that time. He and I were on the same network,” Ralph said, recalling the alleged incident.
“This man walked in, grabbed me by the back of my neck, turned me around, and rammed his nasty ass tongue down my throat,” Ralph said. “And everybody at the network saw it.”
The Dreamgirls star made sure to point out that it was not Judge Greg Mathis that assaulted her.
“I love him. He’s a great man,” Ralph said of the Judge Mathis star. “Not him at all. He’s a great man. This was another one.”
For anyone wondering why she didn’t report the incident, she explained that she almost did and even called the now-former mayor of New Orleans, Marc Morial who immediately asked, “You want me to send the police there right now? ‘Cause we will fix this, you know what?!”
Marc Morial was in office from 1994 to 2002 when Ralph was on Moesha.
However, the network allegedly pleaded with her to stay silent.
“Somebody on the network tapped me on the shoulder saying, ‘Please don’t,’” Ralph shared. “They did not want any bad press around their show, and did not care what had just happened to me.”
“They saw what happened,” Ralph recalled before explaining what executives told her. “It’s not that bad is it? Please don’t say anything. We don’t need the bad press. It’s a brand new show. Yours is a new show … It wasn’t so bad after all, was it?”
“That’s the kind of stuff that happens,” Ralph said. “That’s what makes it hard for women to speak up about these things.”
Hopefully, Sheryl Lee Ralph’s story will indeed encourage actresses to stand up for themselves and not fear retaliation.
