'The Wire' Actor Gbenga Akinnagbe Says He Was Sexually Assaulted By Female Journalist
July 24 2021, Published 12:10 p.m. ET
The Wire actor Gbenga Akinnagbe claims he was sexually assaulted by a female journalist on two separate occasions, but she insists the contact was consensual and says she has receipts to prove it.
Lola Adesioye was arrested in May and hit with charges including forcible touching, sexual abuse, and harassment. Her attorney calls the charges "blatantly false."
According to Akinnagbe, who played Chris Partlow on the hit HBO show, Lola grabbed his butt on two separate occasions last year.
Earlier this week, Lola's attorney Robert Gottlieb insisted his client -- whose background includes working for The Sun -- had a consensual relationship with the actor.
He also introduced three binders allegedly filled with correspondence, including flirty text messages, between Akinnagbe and Lola. He believes this proves the two engaged in a relationship.
“In that first binder are hundreds of text messages back and forth from one another that make it very clear that you have two young people flirting with one another,” Gottlieb told The New York Post. “They were talking about snuggling. They talk about kissing.”
Their correspondence timeline is key, says Lola's attorney.
The flirty messages between Akinnagbe and Lola are allegedly timestamped before and after the first alleged sexual assault incident in May.
He claims they go on to correspond following the first alleged incident and after the second.