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Comedian Andy Dick has been fired from his roles in two movies — Raising Buchanan and Vampire Dad — for allegedly sexually harassing people on set. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Dick’s infractions included “groping people’s genitals, unwanted kissing/licking and sexual propositions of at least four members of the production.”
Dick denied the groping claims to the Hollywood Reporter but admitted the possibility that he licked people and confirmed that he did make advances toward others on the Raising Buchanan set. He also said that he “overtook my medication and took too many Xanax and I was a bit loopy” — the actor has been in and out of rehab north of a dozen times — but “that didn’t make me rape people.”
"I don't know the difference between sexual harassment and trying to get a date,” Dick continued. “In the '70s, all the girlfriends I got was by kissing and licking their cheek. I don't know anymore. There were beautiful women and beautiful guys on the set. I flirt with them. I might kiss someone on the set and ask them to go to dinner. They are the ones that took it south."
As for the allegations that ultimately got him fired from Raising Buchanan, Dick said, “I might have kissed somebody on the cheek to say goodbye and then licked them. That’s my thing.”
Dick is right on at least one count: Nonconsensual sexual advances are, according to both himself and many alleged victims over many years, his “thing.” Such behavior has reportedly been a regular part of how he functions in Hollywood for years — and yet here he is once again, saying he doesn’t understand why people are so upset.
Dick has a long, documented history of fending off sexual harassment and assault accusations
Though Dick was once known as the sharp comedian from NewsRadio, he has long since been associated more with his intoxicated and disruptive behavior. Backstage whispers about a drunken Dick crashing shows and sets and groping people have been prevalent in Hollywood and beyond for years.
At New York’s Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, the improv group Asssscat — originally composed of UCB founders Amy Poehler, Ian Thomas, Matt Walsh, and Matt Besser — reportedly performed a recurring bit in which they’d ask the members of their audience to raise their hands if they had ever ridden an elephant or been sexually assaulted by Dick, with the latter group outnumbering the former.
And on the opposite coast, Dick’s reputation is so well known that “everybody has an Andy Dick story” is an LA aphorism.
That observation is so common, in fact, that Dick himself has been known to lean into his own terrible reputation. In the first season of Netflix’s Love, he played a rock-bottoming version of himself who admitted he maybe got drunk and “gropey.” A 2016 documentary centering on Dick is even called — you guessed it — Everybody Has an Andy Dick Story.
But you don’t have to depend on rumors to learn about Dick’s alleged behavior, because he’s also been arrested several times in relation to similar charges. Here are a few of the ones that are on the record:
- 2007: Dick was dragged off the set of Jimmy Kimmel Live by Kimmel himself, after repeatedly touching Ivanka Trump — who appeared as a guest on the show the same night as Dick — live on the air.
- 2008: Dick was arrested for theft and sexual battery in Murrieta, California. According to the LA Times, a "heavily intoxicated" Dick "grabbed and fondled the breast of a 17-year-old girl before pulling her top down." He avoided felony sexual battery charges but pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery and drug charges.
- 2010: Dick was arrested and charged with first-degree sexual assault for "engaging in unwanted and uninvited groping" of two people's genital areas, according to the Huntington Police Department in West Virginia. Dick pleaded not guilty; the alleged victims filed a civil suit against Dick in 2012.
- 2011: Dick was sued for sexual assault by a Texas nightclub patron, who alleged that Dick exposed and rubbed his genitals on the patron's face. The claimant later dropped the suit.
Most incidents involving Dick are inevitably connected to his well-documented addiction issues; he has often been reported to be drunk or high during the alleged assaults. Last year, an in-depth Vice profile of Dick detailed “the tip of the gropey iceberg,” and “the trail of destruction and bemusement Dick has left in his wake, fueled by alcohol, cocaine, and an utter inability to keep his hands to himself.”
Dick’s addiction issues are likely why people who've encountered him in Hollywood, or who know him personally, tend to talk about him in such confused terms.
After Kimmel booted Dick from the Jimmy Kimmel Live stage, the host discussed being "uncomfortable" around Dick, saying, "You have no idea what he’s going to do next." In the resulting clip of a visibly inebriated Dick being escorted off set, you can hear Trump and the crowd trying to laugh off his groping, as if it were a comedic bit gone awry.
Comedian Pauly Shore told HuffPost Live in 2014 that despite having an "awesome" relationship with Dick, he was nonetheless concerned about Dick's addictive behavior. "I think he likes being fucked up," Shore told host Ricky Camilleri. "He just loves it. He loves kind of stumbling around and touching guy's penises and touching chicks' boobs."
Note that when people talk about Dick's history with substance abuse and sexual assault allegations, his issues with alcohol generally take center stage, while his assault charges are tacked on as an almost wacky afterthought. But alcoholism and addiction is no excuse for a pattern of behavior that involves sexually harassing and assaulting other people — nor should it placate those who have supported Dick in the past when he continues to indulge it.
Updated to include Dick being fired from Vampire Dad.
