After Harvey Weinstein, Fingers Pointed At Sylvester Stallone

Los Angeles: Action star Sylvester Stallone, best known for his portrayal of boxer Rocky Balboa in the "Rocky" movie series, has denied the claims of sexual assault made by a woman against him.

The actor was accused of sexual assault by the woman, who was 16 when the incident allegedly took place. This is said to have happened while he was filming "Over the Top" in Las Vegas in the late 1980s. Stallone, through his spokesperson, has denied the sexual assault report.

Michelle Bega, the spokesperson, said: "This is a ridiculous, categorically false story. No one was ever aware of this story until it was published today (Wednesday), including Mr. Stallone. At no time was Mr. Stallone ever contacted by any authorities or anyone else regarding this matter." The unnamed woman met the "Rambo" star when she was staying at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel with family friends for 10 days. She said that she was introduced to the then-40-year-old actor by actor David Mendenhall, who was playing Stallone's son in the film.

According to a police report, the woman was "intimidated" into having sex with the action movie star and his bodyguard Michael "Mike" De Luca at the hotel in Las Vegas in July 1986. She claimed she had sex with Stallone and he encouraged his bodyguard to join them. She allegedly became "very uncomfortable" with the encounter, but felt that she "had no choice." She also said that Stallone and De Luca forced her to perform oral sex on them.

After the incident, Stallone allegedly threatened her and if she told anyone about it, "they would have to beat her head in". As to why she did not pursue charges at the time, it was because she was "humiliated and ashamed", as well as being "scared", according to the police report. Retired Las Vegas metro police department detective sergeant John Samolovitch, who was head of the sexual assault unit at the time, confirmed that "the copy of the police report is in fact a true copy of the original report".

IANS