Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream co-star Josh Kloss has said he has been living with a “quiet trauma” since the incident, in which Katy Perry allegedly exposed his penis without her consent at a party nearly 14 years ago.
In his first and “last” interview since making the allegations public via Instagram in August 2019, Cross exclusively told Page Six that “it’s hard to bring up something that seems irrelevant to a lot of people.”
But after actress Ruby Rose came forward with sexual assault allegations against Perry (which Perry claims he vehemently denies), Cross felt it was “important” to “have the courage” to “show up and explain.”
“The world may judge me, you know?” he added.
Ms. Cross, 45, played Ms. Perry’s on-screen love interest in the music video for her hit song “Teenage Dream,” which was filmed in Santa Barbara, Calif., in July 2010. At the filming location, the two said, “The bond was strong.”
Two years later, Cross said he was invited to a birthday party for Johnny Wujek, Perry’s longtime costume designer and stylist, at the Moonlight Rollerway skating rink in Glendale, California.
Ms Cross claimed that when she arrived at the venue with a friend, Perry, who was with a small group of people, excitedly greeted her outside the venue. While introducing his friend, he claimed Perry pulled down his pants and underwear, exposing his penis.
“Can you imagine how pathetic and embarrassed I felt,” Cross lamented on Instagram in August 2019.
He elaborated in an interview that he was immediately “stunned.” And according to him, Perry just “laughed.”
“That’s the most important thing here. I want to clear that up. Some people believe that pulling down someone’s pants at a party is a prank, so I want to clear up the confusion,” Cross said, insisting that was not something he experienced.
The actor and producer insisted there was “no mischief” in his relationship with Perry, 41, although “just wearing pants was completely humiliating”.
Page Six examined communications that appear to support Cross’ claims. But when he first came forward, Wojek fired back online, saying: “This is outrageous abuse. Katie would never do something like that.”
Meanwhile, another friend of hers, jewelry designer Marcia Molinari, called Kloss a “mad” fan.
Mr Cross admitted that he may have had feelings for Perry at the time, which is why the alleged incident left him “confused”.
“It’s kind of weird, isn’t it? When you’re into someone and they reach out and grab you or do something to you, it can sometimes seem to my generation to be flirtatious and kind of coming at you,” he said.
The father of one admitted that he thought Perry “really liked” him, but after he “processed and digested” the alleged situation, his “brain realized what it was about.”
Representatives for Mr. Perry, Mr. Wujek and Mr. Molinari did not respond to repeated requests from Page Six for comment on Mr. Cross’s allegations.
As for why he came forward with his allegations, Cross said he reached a breaking point after years of being told by fans how “fortunate” and “lucky” he was to be given such a remarkable platform by a major celebrity.
“My girlfriend, who I should be grateful to, degraded me in front of her closest friends and lowered me to the highest level. Why should I be grateful for that?” he recalled thinking, insisting that his “intent” was not to “punish” Perry, but rather “protect[his]sanity.”
Cross confessed that somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered if Perry had said something like, “The past is the past. I made some mistakes. I apologize. I’m better now.”
But she didn’t. In fact, she only cursorily mentioned multiple allegations of unwanted touching in an interview with the Guardian in August 2020. (Days after Kloss came forward, Russian TV host Tina Kandelaki claimed that Perry tried to kiss her without her consent at a party. The musician, who previously served as an “American Idol” judge, came under fire for kissing an apparently “uncomfortable” Season 16 contestant Benjamin Glaze on the lips after saying he had never kissed her.)
“When I asked her what she thought about these allegations, for the first time, she seemed a little confused,” a Guardian reporter said at the time.
Perry responded to the inquiry: “I think we live in a world where anyone can say anything. I don’t want to say ‘guilty until proven innocent,’ but there are no checks and balances. It’s just the headlines, right? And there’s no investigation into what that is.”
The Grammy nominee added that she had not previously commented out of respect for the #MeToo movement, explaining, “I don’t want to make a fuss. I basically want to add truth.”
When pressed further on whether the allegations were true, Perry reportedly said, “on an exhale”, “I’m not going to comment on everything that’s been said about me, because if I go after that dragon, it’s about the truth and falsehood of my whole life. It’s a distraction from the real cause.”
As reported by Page Six, Rose, 40, accused Perry of sexual assault in a series of threaded posts earlier this month, claiming the incident happened at a nightclub in Melbourne, Australia, when she was in her 20s.
A representative for Perry told Page Six about Rose’s accusations: “The allegations that Ruby Rose is spreading on social media about Katy Perry are not only completely false, they are dangerous and reckless lies.”
“Ms. Rose has a well-documented history of making serious allegations on social media against various individuals, allegations that have been repeatedly denied by those named.”
Mr Perry is currently under investigation by Australian authorities over the incident.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
