Bryan Fuller
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Producer and showrunner Bryan Fuller, known for creating Hannibal and American Gods, has been sued for alleged sexual assault and harassment in a lawsuit that accuses AMC Networks, Shudder and Steakhaus Productions of ignoring and facilitating a hostile work environment on the set of Queer for Fear.
Series producer Samuel Wineman filed on Wednesday a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against the producers of the Shudder original, alleging they knew about “Fuller’s acts of and propensity to commit acts of discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual assault, and retaliation” but “failed to take immediate and appropriate corrective action.”
An AMC spokesperson said the company is reviewing the complaint. Fuller, Shudder and Steakhaus Productions didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Wineman produced Queer for Fear, a docuseries about the relationship between queer audiences and horror. He alleges he was prematurely terminated by Fuller, who executive produced the title and allegedly reduced Wineman’s credits on the show “as a final act of retaliation,” according to the complaint.
The lawsuit claims Fuller sexually assaulted Wineman “several times” in 2021 during the production of the series. Under the guise of cracking Wineman’s back, Fuller “pressed his penis against plaintiff’s buttocks” and held it there so “plaintiff could feel it through the fabric” of his pants,” the lawsuit states.
Wineman also says Fuller’s “preoccupation with masturbation permeated everything.” The complaint claims that Fuller “frequently brought up his penis,” whether it was “reading material that gave him erections,” actors that he “masturbated so much to” or “adult/child power dynamics in stories that he was ‘wanking it to.’”
The allegedly hostile work environment extended to “relentless verbal harassment and casual bullying,” the lawsuit says. Wineman alleges that Fuller often berated him until he cried and retaliated against him by sabotaging shots, heckling interviewees and ignoring him for weeks at a time. The complaint adds that Fuller “made discriminatory comments targeting groups that crew and interviewees belonged to, plaintiff included, frequently proclaiming his hatred of all gay men.”
The complaint alleges quid pro quo sexual harassment, retaliation, harassment and hostile work environment and negligent hiring, among other claims.
