Michael Pitt arrested for alleged sexual assault and attack on ex-girlfriend
Boardwalk Empire actor Michael Pitt has been arrested on sexual assault and domestic violence charges.
According to the New York Post and Variety, the 44-year-old has been accused of multiple assaults by an ex-girlfriend stemming from four incidents taking place between 2020 and 2021.
She alleges that Pitt sexually assaulted and attacked her with a cinderblock and a wooden plank at the actor's Bushwick home. He is also accused of strangling her.
The actor, whose credits also include Dawson's Creek and films such as The Dreamers, Seven Psychopaths and Funny Games, pleaded not guilty after his arrest Friday and is now out on bail. He is next due in court in June.
'Unfortunately, we live in a world where somebody like Mr Pitt — an accomplished professional who would never so much as contemplate these crimes — can be arrested on the uncorroborated word of an unhinged individual,' his lawyer said in a statement to Variety. 'In reality, this baseless claim is suspiciously raised some four or five years after the alleged incident, at a time when the two parties were in a completely consensual and voluntary relationship. This case will be dismissed.'
Pitt was previously arrested in 2022 and was charged with assault and petty larceny after allegedly hitting a man and taking his phone. Two months later he was hospitalised after being accused of throwing items at people from a building. The actor was deemed to be 'emotionally disturbed'.
He had most recently been seen in Netflix thriller Reptile and fact-based boxing drama Day of the Fight. He will next feature in true crime drama You Can't Win.
The Guardian has reached out to his reps for comment.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
40 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Teen boy shoots himself dead after 'sextortion' scam that's every parent's worst nightmare
A Kentucky teen took his own life after being targeted in a cruel 'sextortion' scam that used AI-generated nude images to try to blackmail him. Elijah Heacock, 16, of Glasgow, was getting ready for bed on February 27 when he received a chilling text demanding $3,000 to keep an AI-generated nude photo of him from being shared with friends and family, KFDA News reported. Only hours later, his family found him inside their home's laundry room gravely injured by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Despite efforts to save him, Elijah died in the hospital the next day. It wasn't until the teen was in the hospital that his parents discovered the AI-generated photos on his phone, uncovering the disturbing reality behind his suicide. The digital evidence revealed that he had fallen victim to a sextortion scam - where criminals target young people online, threatening to release explicit images unless they pay up or comply with potentially harmful demands. Now, more than three months after the tragedy, Elijah's family is channeling their grief into action - fighting to make it a federal crime to post both real and generated sexually-oriented images of someone online without their consent. 'The people that are after our children are well organized,' Elijah's father, John Burnett, told CBS News. 'They are well financed, and they are relentless.' 'They don't need the photos to be real, they can generate whatever they want, and then they use it to blackmail the child,' he added. 'It's kind of like a bullet in a war. It's not going to win the war. No war is ever won by one bullet. You got to win battles. You got to win fights. And we're in it.' On the night of February 27, Elijah's mother, Shannon, urged him to get to bed early, reminding him of the district basketball playoff game the next day in their hometown, the Wall Street Journal reported. Elijah - known to his parents as 'their tornado' for his bold spirit and relentless ambition - seemed excited for the events planned the next day, WLKY reported. Just before 10:30pm, the teen texted his mother about grabbing coffee before the game the next morning, the WSJ reported. An hour after Shannon went to sleep, her daughter jolted her awake with gut-wrenching news no mother ever wants to hear. Elijah was found in the laundry room, bloodied, after shooting himself. The 16-year-old 'wasn't depressed, he wasn't sad, he wasn't angry,' Burnett told CBS News about his son. Now, more than three months after the tragedy, Elijah's family is channeling their grief into action - fighting to make it a federal crime to post both real and generated sexually-oriented images of someone online without their consent The grim truth began to unravel as Elijah's parents searched his phone, ultimately discovering a series of AI-generated nude photographs. 'They started asking Eli for money,' Shannon told KFDA of the blackmailer. 'This person was asking for $3,000.' 'Three-thousand dollars from a child,' she added. 'And now, we're looking at $30,000 to bury our son and medical bills.' After being alerted to the disturbing images, the Barren County Sheriff's Office arrived at the hospital, where a deputy reviewed its contents firsthand. In the final hour before Elijah took his own life, he exchanged more than 150 text messages with the person threatening him, the WSJ reported. If he didn't send the $3,000, the person warned, a fake nude image of him would be sent to friends and family. It quickly became clear the case needed to be escalated to the FBI. Elijah's case wasn't a rare occurrence, but rather part of a growing trend in the age of advanced technology and chatbots. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), more than 500,000 sextortion cases targeting minors were reported last year alone. At least 20 young individuals have taken their own lives since 2021 after falling victim to sextortion scams, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 'You don't actually need any technical skills at this point to create this kind of illegal and harmful material,' Dr. Rebecca Portnoff, head of data science at a non-profit focused on preventing online child exploitation, told CBS News. In January 2024, 15-year-old David Gonzalez Jr. died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after becoming the target of the sex scam, the WSJ reported. The Utah teenager was contacted by what appeared to be a teenage girl on the social media app Wizz, and the conversation quickly moved across Instagram, Snapchat and iMessage - continuing throughout the day. Eventually, one of the perpetrators told the boy they knew where he lived and threatened to release screenshots from a live video call he had participated in with the supposed girl. Junior didn't have the $200 they demanded - and just hours later, his parents were shattered by the sound of a gunshot from upstairs. A bill introduced in the Kentucky Senate this year aims to criminalize sexual extortion, set penalties for offenders, and implement measures to tackle the growing problem. 'This is a problem that our young people and others are facing that is devastating,' said Steve Riley, State Representative for Barren County. 'Can you imagine the pain that a parent has to go through in this situation?' On March 7, Riley spoke about Elijah on the Kentucky House floor, sharing that he had spoken with Shannon following her son's death. The bill now awaits Governor Andy Beshear's signature to become law. 'We have to do everything as a body and as a state to deal with this situation,' Riley added. 'What kind of lowlife human being would use sexual extortion to devastate another person, both emotionally, mentally, and financially? That's what we're dealing with.' On a larger scale, the government is stepping up efforts to combat extortion, including the recently passed 'Take It Down' Act - championed by Melania Trump and signed into law by President Trump. Elijah's parents also fought for the change with hopes that the recently signed measure will make a difference. The 'Take It Down' Act not only makes sharing fake/real explicit images online without consent a federal charge, but it also requires social media companies to remove the images within 48 hours of the victim's request.
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Donald Trump warns of 'consequences' if Elon Musk funds rivals - as 'big bomb' Epstein post disappears
Donald Trump has warned of "serious consequences" if Elon Musk funds the US president's political rivals - as the social media post at the centre of their public falling out was removed. Speaking on Saturday to Sky News' US partner NBC News, Mr Trump warned of repercussions if Musk funded Democrats who opposed his sweeping budget bill. "If he does, he'll have to pay the consequences for that," Trump said in a phone interview. "He'll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that," he added, not specifying what those consequences would be. 'The truth will come out' It comes after the tech billionaire claimed the US president appeared in files relating to the disgraced paedophile Jeffrey Epstein in a post on his social media platform X, as he traded blows with his former colleague in a dramatic public row. In the post, which now appears to have been deleted, Musk said: "Time to drop the really big bomb: "@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public." He had doubled down in a follow-up post, saying: "Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out." He gave no evidence for the claim, which was dismissed by the White House - with the posts disappearing from his social media platform by Sunday. Users clicking on the message - first posted on Thursday - were instead greeted with: " page doesn't exist. Try searching for something else." Epstein killed himself in his jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking minors. JD Vance has his say Amid the fallout, vice president JD Vance said Musk was making a "huge mistake" going after Mr Trump but characterised him as an "emotional guy" who got frustrated. He made the comments in an interview with comedian and podcaster Theo Von - one of the "manosphere" influencers the Trump team targeted to gain votes with young men during the election. "I hope that eventually Elon comes back into the fold. Maybe that's not possible now because he's gone so nuclear," Mr Vance said. He also said such outbursts "happen to everyone", adding: "I've flown off the handle way worse than Elon Musk did in the last 24 hours." 'Big ugly spending bill' Musk and Mr Trump's relationship broke down publicly on Thursday, just days after the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive left his role as a special government employee. In a fiery exchange, Musk posted a series of messages on X criticising the president's signature tax and spending bill as a "big ugly spending bill". President Trump posted on his own platform Truth Social, saying Musk had been "wearing thin" and claimed he "asked him to leave" his government position - something Musk denied. Musk then hit back with his claim about the US president appearing in the Epstein files. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the comment in a statement. "This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted," she said. "The president is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again." The spat hit Tesla shares, which closed down 14.3% on Thursday, losing about $150bn (£111bn) in value. In an interview with ABC News, Mr Trump was asked about reports a phone call was scheduled between him and Musk on Friday.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Man pinned to wall by car in 'targeted assault' in Kirklees
A man has been left with serious leg injuries after being struck by a car and pinned to a wall in a "targeted assault".The incident took place on Westbourne Road, in Huddersfield, at 19:55 BST on Friday, and the man, aged in his 20s, was taken to hospital for Yorkshire Police said a red Audi A1 car believed to have been involved was recovered in Huddersfield later in the evening.A man, also aged in his 20s, has been arrested in connection with the incident and is in police custody for questioning. Det Insp Catherine Shackleton said: "We are continuing to conduct a number of active inquiries into this incident which we are treating as a targeted assault in which a car was used as a weapon."Anyone with any information is asked to get in touch with police. Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
