Sienna Mae Accused Of Victim-Blaming Jack Wright While Addressing Sexual Assault Allegations Against Her
She claims she hasn't spoken to Wright since the allegations started.
YouTube TikToker Sienna Mae Gomez has come forward in her first public interview since being accused of sexually assaulting influencer and former friend, Jack Wright.
In an interview on the 'BFFs' podcast with Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards, Gomez, 18, joined with her lawyer, and a video forensic evidence expert, refuted all of the claims made against her by Wright.
"It was literally just as shocking to me as it was to everyone else on the internet," Gomez told Portnoy, adding that she still has no idea where the allegations came from, and hasn't reached out to Wright since being accused.
On the BFFs Podcast, Sienna Mae Gomez attempted to 'debunk' a video allegedly showing her assault Jack Wright — but critics say she is victim-blaming him.
One of the main reasons Gomez had joined the interview with her team was to debunk the viral TikTok video that allegedly showed Gomez assaulting Wright at a party.
However, many people found that while Gomez was trying to clear her name, she was also heavily victim shaming Wright and reviving a video that is no doubt triggering for survivors.
The video forensics expert claimed that the video allegedly showing Gomez "groping" Wright has been "heavily altered," "provides no context to the events," and "is not originial," coming to the conclusion that all three of those facts means the video has been deemed "not credible evidence."
Gomez's attorney also tried to discredit Wright's accusations, repeatedly stating that since there had been no police report filed or investigation conducted, the allegations have lost their credibility.
"There has been no police report filed, there has been no police investigation, there's been no civil complaint filed. There has been absolutely nothing by way of investigation, or any kind of legal proceeding filed," Gomez's attorney said. "Honestly, at the end of the day, this is all just a video online."
Followers worry that Sienna Mae's comments have shamed Jack Wright into silence.
Many people were quick to bring up how many sexual assault victims ever rarely go to the police, much less come forward with their stories because of the innate fear of being silenced or invalidated of their experience.
Appearing on a podcast and allowing multiple people to analyze and minimize a video appearing to show sexual assault does little to encourage survivors to come forward.
For anyone who has ever experienced anything similar to what the video appears to show, Gomez's 'BFFs' interview only undermines their trauma.
Sienna Mae doubled down on her denial of the sexual assault allegations made by Jack Wright.
The accusations against Gomez were first made public on Twitter in May 2021, when one of Wright's friends accused her of "sexually assaulting," the Hype House member, telling Wright "numerous times" to kill himself.
Gomez vehemently denied the allegations made against her, claiming that Wright had "misled" her. "That’s why this has been so confusing to me, because it was real online, and then it was sometimes real offline and sometimes it wasn’t,” Gomez said.
After seemingly staying relatively quiet online, Wright finally came forward with his side of the story, uploading a YouTube video titled "what sienna mae did to me," in January 2022.
In his video, Wright confirmed that all he and Gomez had ever been were friends, saying that he "hated it" when she touched him intimately.
He also spoke about the TikTok video that had been posted in which he is lying immobile on a couch and shows Gomez allegedly assaulting him. Wright said that he had "passed out" and that his brother and friends had to pull Gomez off of him to get her to stop touching his crotch.
Wright continued, alleging various other “inappropriate” encounters with Gomez that he said occurred offline. In one incident, he said, Gomez straddled him on his bed, without his consent, while she was naked.
Wright said Gomez tried to kiss him while he said “Sienna, stop,” and “get off.” He said it took “a couple tries” before he was able to successfully remove her.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be the person I was before Sienna,” Wright said. “Nice people let people walk all over them, and that was me.”
In a lengthy Medium post that was published two days after Wright uploaded his video, Gomez shared her own account of her relationship with Wright, writing, "As someone I loved and still love, I’m devastated that [Wright] made me sound crazy and twisted so many things out of context in his most recent video, to the point of literally painting me into the 'loud', 'crazy', 'overly sexualized' stereotype that people try to use on young, especially Latina, women."
On BFFs, Gomez focused primarily on the video of an alleged assault and failed to thoroughly address Wright's other claims.
In Gomez's interview on the 'BFFs' podcast, her attorney also confirmed that they "are considering all of our legal options," adding that they might be pursing defamation lawsuits against Wright and "multiple individuals.”
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Follow her on Instagram.