Michaela Coel says she was sexually assaulted while writing Chewing Gum

'The first people I called after the police, before my own family, were the producers'

(Getty Images)

Michaela Coel has spoken about, for the first time, being sexually assaulted while writing her Channel 4 series Chewing Gum.

"I had an episode due at 7 a.m. I took a break and had a drink with a good friend who was nearby. I emerged into consciousness typing season two, many hours later," she said, reports The Telegraph. "I was lucky. I had a flashback. It turned out I’d been sexually assaulted by strangers. The first people I called after the police, before my own family, were the producers."

She added that her experiences with Channel 4 in the assault's aftermath were mixed: though she says the production company paid for her to attend therapy sessions, she found the level of support she received inconsistent.

She described production staff as "teetering back and forth between the line of knowing what normal human empathy is and not knowing what empathy is at all. When there are police involved, and footage, of people carrying your sleeping writer into dangerous places, when cuts are found, when there’s blood... what is your job?”

She added that, though the deadline was pushed back, the head of comedy was never informed as to why.

Coel shared her story as part of her MacTaggart Lecture at the annual Edinburgh International Television Festival. She is the youngest person and first black woman to present the lecture in its 43-year history.

Over the course of the lecture, she also described being harassed by an unnamed television executive at an awards show after-party, who told her: "Do you know how much I want to f*ck you right now?" She left the party in such a rush that she left behind her plus one, who later called her, upset because the same executive had "called him a n****r."

"Could my silence have encouraged this producer to push boundaries with women and black people further?" she said. "This thought is uncomfortable, but I cannot block it out. I have to face it.”

In response to Coel's lecture, Channel 4's director of programmes, Ian Katz, released a statement, saying: “Michaela’s MacTaggart is a powerful and important wake-up call. She has raised vital questions about opportunity, support, transparency, and inclusion that as an industry we must all address with urgency.

"The experiences she has described in her lecture are not what we would want for anyone working with Channel 4 or any part of our industry.

“She has opened an honest debate about how we ensure that writers and performers, whatever their backgrounds, feel respected and heard. We want an industry that truly celebrates difference and is accessible to all, so broadcasters and producers now need to work in partnership to act on the issues she has raised.”

It has also been announced that Coel will write and star in a new BBC drama that will examine the issue of sexual consent.

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