David O’Russell is known for being difficult to work with (his argument with Lily Tomlin on the set of I Heart Huckabees is legendary), but now the director of The Fighter and Three Kings is having issues of a different kind after being accused of groping a transgender relative.
According to a police report that The Smoking Gun got hold of, last week O’Russell was at a Florida hotel gym with his adopted sister’s child, Nicole Peloquin, who was born a male and has taken female hormones to grow breasts but has not undergone male-to-female surgery (and is referred to as male in the police report).
After O’Russell offered “to help…with ab exercises,” Peloquin told the police the director’s hand was above her “private parts”. After this, O’Russell allegedly asked Peloquin about the transgender transformation. Peloquin replied by telling Russell about “the hormones to increase his breasts.” At that point,O’Russell is alleged to have put his hands under Peloquin’s top “and felt both breasts.” While Peloquin said he felt uncomfortable, “he did not ask Russell to stop at any time.”
Peloquin said he left the gym a few minutes later, and subsequently told his mother that her brother “came onto her in the gym.”
Police later spoke to O’Russell, who denied he had done anything that amounted to battery (which is what he was accused of), saying that Peloquin was “acting very provocative towards him.”
O’Russell said that he spoke with Peloquin about the “transgender transformation and the breast enhancements he had done.” Curious about this, he says Peloquin allowed him “to feel both of his breasts,” adding that his relative “asked him to ‘pinky swear’ about her letting him touch his breasts.”
O’Russell seem to think it’s his relative just causing trouble, saying that “he had asked Peloquin several times if he was uncomfortable and he did not ask him to not touch him.” He also told the deputy that Peloquin is “always causing drama since the transgender transformation and has become very provocative and seductive.”
There wasn’t enough evidence for the police to make an arrest, but Peloquin can pursue the matter further with the state attorney.
Even if we believe O’Russell’s side of the story, what the hell is he doing touching his niece’s breats in the first place, whether he’s got permission or not?
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