Florence Pugh Calls on Men to Speak Up After Cornell Sexual Assault Allegations

Florence Pugh has publicly addressed an alleged sexual assault case involving a former Cornell University student, calling on men to speak out against sexual violence and the silence that surrounds it.

The actor posted a lengthy statement on Instagram on Sunday, days after allegations surfaced that a former Cornell student accused seven men of raping and drugging her at a fraternity house party in October 2024.

The allegations became public after the woman, identified as Jane Doe, filed a lawsuit against the university and the fraternity members. According to her attorney, a university investigation led to two of the accused being expelled, while the others received lesser sanctions, including temporary suspensions, workshops or essay-writing assignments. No arrests were made.

Pugh described the alleged incident as a "horrific act" and said reading about it left her feeling "uneasy and sick and anxious."

"This is really the moment where we need our men to be as horrified and as sickened as us," she wrote, urging men to take an active role in challenging sexual violence and to be "leading conversations about how we change the allowance and complicity of this behaviour as much as we are."

She also questioned the silence that often follows such incidents. "How can you expect us to trust that it's 'not all men' when in moments like this, many of you stay quiet?" she wrote.

Pugh criticised what she characterised as insufficient consequences for those involved in the alleged assault and for anyone who may have known about it. "We are not hard enough on those that want to damage human lives," she wrote.

She further addressed what she described as a broader failure by educational institutions to protect women. "Colleges/schools/universities repeatedly fail women around the world," she wrote, adding that she was "enraged by schools protecting boys, in fear of their futures being wrecked."

She concluded: "There is no equality until we can say we feel safe. We are the life force of this earth, start ****ing protecting us. Be angry for us. Please."

The statement comes days after Pugh spoke to Vanity Fair about her long-standing support for Palestine, saying she did not know "why it took so long for people to start talking and for people to actually feel sympathy."