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Hollywood Director Cary Fukunaga Accused Of Grooming By Multiple Women

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Kay Smythe News and Commentary Writer
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Director Cary Fukunaga has reportedly been accused of abusing his power on set with younger women.

Actress and skateboarder Rachelle Vinberg, 23, alleged via her Instagram story highlights that Fukunaga, 44, groomed her after she met him when she was just one day into being 18-years-old. “I’m going to expose him, cause f**k him,” Vinberg told her followers, before showing a series of photos of her with Fukunaga under such captions as “this guy sucks,” and “I hate you Cary.”

Vinberg alleged that Fukunaga would refer to her as his “cousin” or “niece” in public and that she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after dating him. Though they were reportedly just friends until Vinberg turned 21, she claimed Fukunaga would randomly slap her ass and discuss intimate sexual details with her, according to Rolling Stone.

An anonymous source related to Fukunaga’s latest miniseries on AppleTV+ accused the director of engaging in “absolute, clear-cut abuse of power” when he spent time with younger female actresses and members of the crew, according to Rolling Stone. Another unnamed source also alleged to outlet that Fukunaga’s persistence with the young actresses bordered on workplace harassment.

Those who allegedly engaged in relationships with the director said they walked away feeling gaslighted and manipulated, the outlet continued.

“When I thought about him, I just wanted to vomit,” one young woman told Rolling Stone. “I remember feeling so good to be away from him, like this heavy weight on my shoulder was lifted and [I could] breathe again. He made me feel so claustrophobic and suffocating.”

Another claimed that Fukunaga made her feel “crazy, because he treated me like trash towards the end,” according to the outlet. (RELATED: ‘Manipulated And Groomed’: Retired Green Beret Explains Why So Many Women Go Missing)

Fukunaga’s attorney, Michael Plonsker, issued a statement on the accusations, saying, “There is nothing salacious about pursuing friendships or consensual romantic relationships with women. Nevertheless, because that would not fit your narrative, you conclude he has done something wrong,” according to Rolling Stone.

Plonsker continued by saying that “no one ever — not once — voiced such sentiments to” the director, that “he creates a work environment that is creative, collaborative and welcoming to all” and that he has “not acted in any manner that would or should generate” such claims, the outlet reported. The attorney also said Fukunaga and Vinberg “had a brief and consensual romantic relationship” and that “as everyone knows, relationships end all of the time and many times one person (or both) are unhappy,” IndieWire reported.

Actress Raeden Greer claimed in 2021 she was fired from “True Detective” by Fukunaga because she refused to go topless on the show, IndieWire continued. Twin sisters Hannah and Cailin Loesch wrote a lengthy blog post in solidarity with Vinberg after they claimed to have experienced behaviors similar to those alleged by Vinberg from Fukunaga while filming Neflix’s “Maniac.”

“At first, Cary seemed to have mostly ‘chosen’ Cailin as the object of his flirty Instagram DMs. Then came the invite to join him and his friends at a Soho club, where we both wound up blacked out in the bathroom, for the first time in our lives,” the Loesch sisters claimed in the post. “A night out with our director, who we had enormous respect for, ended with us both pressed against Cary’s body on the dance floor, lapsing in and out of our lucid states, occasionally falling to the floor in a haze.”

Nick Cuse, his former writing partner for “Maniac” and consultant on “No Time To Die,” claimed that Fukunaga used tactics to groom him into writing scripts for him, IndieWire reported. Cuse referred to Fukunaga as the “worst human being I have ever met in my life” and called the director’s alleged treatment of non-celebrities “horrible,” according to the outlet.

The Daily Caller reached out to Fukunaga’s attorney for further comment but did not receive a response.