Batwoman star Ruby Rose has alleged on social media that she was assaulted by Katy Perry, which the singer's representative has denied as "categorically false."
In a series of Threads posts, the 40-year-old Australian actor recounted an incident that allegedly occurred in her early 20s. The initial post, from late Sunday evening, was in response to a thread by Complex regarding Perry’s reported response to Justin Bieber's Coachella set. Rose replied to the publication, writing, “Katy Perry sexual [sic] assaulted me at spice market nightclub in Melbourne. Who gives a shit what she thinks.”
Rose's allegation set off a wave of responses, with users asking for details, challenging the actor’s claim, or issuing messages of support. Replying to one of the posts probing for further details, Rose elaborated on the context for the alleged incident: “After it [happened], I threw up on her. I told the story publicly, but changed it to be a ‘funny little drunk story’ because I didn’t know how else to handle it. Later, she agreed to help me get my U.S. visa. So I kept it a secret. But I DID tell y'all she wasn’t a good person."
In the message, Rose seemed to be referring, at least in part, to comments she’s made in the past about Perry regarding a series of public disputes with singer Taylor Swift. As part of the feud, which seems to have originated over backup dancers, Perry collaborated with Nicki Minaj on the 2017 song “Swish Swish,” interpreted by many to be aimed at Swift as retaliation for her single “Bad Blood.”
In response to a user who jokingly referenced Perry’s song “I Kissed a Girl,” Rose revealed a more explicit account of the event that she said elsewhere has taken her almost two decades to speak about publicly because of the trauma of sexual assault. “She didn’t kiss me. She saw me ‘resting’ on my best friend's lap to avoid her and bent down, pulled her underwear to the side, and rubbed her disgusting vagina on my face until my eyes snapped open and I projectile vomited on her,” Rose wrote.
After initially saying to one Threads user that she was “not interested in filing a report” over the incident — “not when I haven’t even filed a report for the numerous rapes at the hands of grown men” — Rose reversed course late Sunday evening. In a new chain, she announced, “Today I will be walking into a police station to see if any of my experiences can be investigated. I imagine they are past their statute of limitations, but all the more reason to try.”
She added, “I have a long list, it will probably take more out of me than I’m prepared for, but I will come back here to update others on the process, as soon as I am ready.”
After a period of not posting, Rose returned to Threads in the early hours of Monday morning to confirm that she had gone to the authorities to report multiple incidents. Although she didn’t reveal the names of the people she reported, she alluded to two incidents that occurred when she was a “child” and others that occurred when she was an adult in Australia. The phrasing implied that there were perhaps other incidents that happened when she was a minor that she did not report.
Elsewhere in posts, Rose spoke about “psychological manipulation” she experienced from Perry, as well as suffering from “PTSD flashbacks.” She said that, in the past, she’s “lashed out on social media at all hours of the night” after being awoken by flashbacks, and that her inability to give details about the incidents has fueled “rumors of instability and unprofessionalism.”
A representative for Perry told Out, "The allegations being circulated on social media by Ruby Rose about Katy Perry are not only categorically false, they are dangerous, reckless lies. Ms. Rose has a well-documented history of making serious public allegations on social media against various individuals, claims that have repeatedly been denied by those named."
In 2020, Rose alleged that she left the CW series Batwoman due to unsafe working conditions created by a toxic environment where crew members were harassed, suffered injuries, and pressured to work through the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The actor, who previously starred in the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black, said that she was personally pressured to work through an injury, only months after having surgery.
Following months of press surrounding her exit from the series, which was originally lauded by fans for portraying the first lesbian Batwoman, the gender-fluid actor revealed that she was the victim of a brutal attack as a teenager that was fueled by anti-LGBTQ+ hate. Since then, she’s spoken on social media, and more vaguely in interviews, about being abused by family members whom she characterized as “pedophiles.”
Out has reached out to representatives for Rose for comment on this developing story.
Editor's note: Some of Rose's quotes have been edited to correct punctuation and spelling.
