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Earlier this month a transgender man filed a suit in a Los Angeles court accusing actress Rosario Dawson and her family of subjecting him to transphobic harassment and violent abuse. Now the actress has released a statement denying her family abused the former employee.
It’s been over a week since the accusations made headlines, and according to The New York Daily News, Dawson finally broke her silence through her lawyer Shawn Holley.
READ MORE: Rosario Dawson and family sued over alleged transphobic assault
“The Dawson family is saddened and disappointed by these false and baseless allegations,” Holley explained in the statement. “We look forward to addressing the plaintiff’s claims in court.”
Dedrek Finley filed the lawsuit this month against Dawson and three members of her family. In it, he claims the four of them violated his civil rights by discriminating against him specifically because he is transgender.
In December 2017, Finley, 55, moved from New York to Los Angeles to work as a handyman for the Dawson family and “renovate and remodel Rosario’s personal residence.” He said he relocated because he was promised consistent work and even moved into a North Hollywood home rented by the family.
READ MORE: Trans comedian referenced in Dave Chappelle’s Netflix dead by suicide
But he says that despite what was an amicable relationship, soon after he came out to the Dawson family as transgender — informing them that he had changed his name to Dedrek and would like them to use he/him pronouns — things went sour.
Finley’s suit claims that after he came out as transgender, “the family misgendered him multiple times each day, with deliberate indifference as to the appropriate way to address Mr. Finley.”
Dawson, who is a vocal social justice advocate, and is currently dating Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker, is alleged to have “acted with deliberate indifference and did nothing to correct the situation.”
“In response to Mr. Finley’s complaints, Rosario would respond to Mr. Finley, ‘You’re a grown woman,’” despite the fact that Finley had come out as transgender to the family.
The suit also cites that in February 2018, a few months after his coming out, the family attempted to evict Finley, but he refused to because there were no legal grounds for him to be forced to leave. Two months later he says members of the family banded together to assault him.
Rosario Dawson allegedly assisted in the violent attack by sitting on top of him and “actively restraining him while he was on the ground to ensure that her mother could continue battering him.”
The suit seeks damages for the attack as well as battery, assault, emotional distress, and several other allegations.
READ MORE: Rosario Dawson says romance with Sen. Cory Booker is like ‘dating Captain America’
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