Fred Savage Accused of Assault

Fred Savage has been accused of harassing and assaulting a member of the wardrobe team on Fox‘s The Grinder.

Crew member Youngjoo Hwang filed suit on Wednesday against Savage and Fox, accusing the 41-year-old of berating her repeatedly and at least once physically assaulting her.

• The alleged incident occurred in 2015. In a press conference Wednesday, Hwang alleged that she was “scared of the abuse and what [she’d] have to encounter on any given day” at work and that her superiors encouraged her not to report Savage’s conduct.
• Recounting one incident in particular, she alleged, “I was attempting to brush off dandruff off of Mr. Savage’s jacket. Mr. Savage snapped. He yelled at me, told me not to touch him and he hit my arm violently three times. I could not stop crying, I was in pain I was humiliated and I was scared. This was the last straw for me because now me physical safety was at risk.”
• She is seeking unspecified emotional distress damages.
• Savage denies the allegations. “I have witnessed tremendous courage over these past few months, watching brave women who have come forward publicly fighting through the shame and stigma of harassment. I’ve seen first-hand the growing support in this movement that has always felt so lacking. As someone who has always tried to live honorably and with integrity, it never dawned on me that my name could be on the other side,” his statement, published in People, begins.
• “I was made aware that a woman working in the costume department of a show I was on almost three years ago has claimed that I treated her harshly on set simply because she was a woman. These accusations are completely without merit and absolutely untrue. Fox conducted an extensive internal investigation into her claims, a process in which I fully participated. After concluding a thorough investigation, Fox determined that there was absolutely no evidence to support these accusations. None of her claims could be substantiated because they did not happen,” the statement continues.
• “Fox takes all allegations of improper conduct very seriously. We conducted a thorough investigation into these allegations and found no evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of Mr. Savage, ” a rep for the network told Page Six on Wednesday. “We will vigorously defend against these unfounded claims.”
• This isn’t the first time Savage has run into allegations like this. In March of 1993, a 32-year-old costume designer filed suit in L.A. alleging that Savage (then 16), and his Wonder Years costar Jason Harvey (then 20) verbally and physically harassed her.