After attending a movie premiere after party, actress Jerrie Johnson took to her Instagram earlier today (February 28) to share a disturbing encounter. She recounts being introduced to movie director Marc Cayce by a mutual friend. Following an unfriendly first meeting, Cayce allegedly disgraces Johnson’s gender identity and sexually assaults her. The actress, known for her work in Harlem, explained the situation while calling out the filmmaker for the interaction. “He whispered in my ear, ‘I don’t want to hurt your feelings brother,’” Johnson recalled, “and I said ‘My feelings don’t get hurt and why are you calling me brother, I’m not a brother,’ and this man proceeded to pinch my nipple.”
Johnson noted that Cayce had also nonconsensually “smacked” her friend’s butt earlier in the evening. In her post, the star included a screenshot of the 56-year-old’s profile alongside a google search of him. Cayce, who gained recognition for his first film, Nikita Blues, also is noted as a movie writer and producer. He has yet to address the claims Johnson has publically made against him.
Jerrie Johnson Calls Out Marc Cayce For “Disgusting” Experience
The 29-year-old actress concluded the post with a message: “Listen, I’m the wrong one. I don’t care about LA culture or industry culture or any of that- you should not be touching people inappropriately for ANY REASON.” Further, Johnson reflects that the interaction was “disgusting” and “inappropriate.”
Johnson, who identifies as a queer woman, recently reflected on her nonbinary identity, which she described to AutoStraddle. “This binary is so new and so American and so beneficial to the patriarchy and white supremacy, that I feel like it would be a disservice for me and my legacy for me to feed into any type of binary,” she described regarding her portrayal of Tye in Harlem, as well as her personal life. The actress goes on to explain the comedy show’s representation of diversity, noting the importance of “how we’re presenting people, how we’re writing things, how we’re casting things so that people can see people like me in more of a nuance across different mediums in the industry.” Season two of Harlem aired on Prime Video earlier this month. For more news on hip-hop and pop culture, be sure to check out HNHH.