Former 106 & Park host and current Extra host AJ Calloway has been accused of sexual assault.
Writer Sil Lai Abrams accused Calloway of sexually assaulting her in 2006 in an expose from The Hollywood Reporter.
“The day after Christmas, she met him for a drink. When she told him it was time for her to head home, he offered to drive her. Once they were en route, he asked, “Do you see what you do to me?” When she turned, she says, she was shocked to see that he was displaying his erect penis. She says she told him, “Why don’t you do us both a favor and put that away?”
Abrams says it was late and cold and she wasn’t far from home. Calculating that he wouldn’t push things too far, she says, she decided not to bolt out of the car. But when he pulled up outside her building, she says he started kissing her and fondling her breast, and she saw he was exposing himself again. He tried to push her head down on his lap, she says, and when she pulled away, he grabbed her hand, put it on his penis and stroked himself until he ejaculated. Before getting out of the car, she says she angrily asked him why he had done it. Soon after she was back in her apartment, she says, he called to apologize.”
Abrams later pressed charged and had Calloway arrested, but the charges were dropped. Calloway has released a statement through his attorney denying any wrongdoing.
“These decade-old allegations are false. They were false when they were first made and are false now. Mr. Calloway fully cooperated with law enforcement from the beginning, denied the allegations, and the case was completely dismissed in November 2007. After the case was dismissed, the court records were sealed as a matter of law and are no longer available,” the attorney said.
Abrams is also one of six women accusing hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons of rape.
Inspired by the #MeToo movement, Abrams took the story to MSNBC’s Joy-Ann Reid, but the story kept being delayed by what Reid described as “"slow walking the story with idiotic requests.” The story was later killed because the network feared retaliation from Calloway and Simmons’ attorneys.
Reid released a statement to The Root saying the story got cancelled because claims against “one of the accused men” could not be verified.
“Investigative reports like these take time, and not surprisingly, sometimes journalists get frustrated as well. I inappropriately shared that frustration privately with Sil Lai,” Reid said. “I completely respect MSNBC’s standards and practices. Meticulous research to get the facts right was the only option, especially given the seriousness of the allegations.”
MSNBC also released a statement about the story:
“When MSNBC pursues any investigative story our mission is always to be as thorough as we can, to scrutinize sources and corroborate information before we report. Anything else falls short of our journalistic standards.”