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Mariska Hargitay, Josh Gad, Hudson Williams and more celebrities are joining the growing list of Hollywood names using social media to condemn the Cornell 7, the name given online to the seven male students accused
of drugging and gang raping their female classmate at Cornell University in October 2024.
The woman’s allegation is making national headlines now that she is suing her alleged assaulters as well as their fraternity, Cornell University, her former sorority and more. According to the woman’s attorney, Cornell’s original investigation into the alleged crime resulted in only two of the accused men being expelled. The other students received lesser sanctions, such as temporary suspensions, workshops or essay-writing assignments. No arrests were ever made.
“We refuse for this victim to be reduced to just another story. Cornell has failed to protect its students,” Hargitay posted on her Instagram in a shared statement with the Joyful Heart Foundation, the organization she founded to support victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse.
“A Cornell student says she was never told the outcome of her own Title IX case, and the men she accused are back on campus. The Cornell Daily Sun is demanding answers and accountability, and so are we,” the foundation added in a statement. “Survivors deserve to be believed and kept informed. Silence protects no one. To her: we support you.”
Hargitay, whose become synonymous with tackling sex crime stories due to her decades-long run as Olivia Benson on NBC’s “Law and Order: SVU,” also used her Instagram story to rail against the Cornell 7 by re-posting the following statements: “Dear men and boys. If your friends tell you they’re gang raping someone, call the fucking police”; “Yes, I think we should ruin the futures of adult men who drug and gang rape a woman. Thanks for asking.”; “57 men were in that fraternity group chat. 57. Not one of them stopped it.”
Josh Gad slammed Cornell for its softball response to the majority of men accused, writing in a statement shared on Instagram: “When we start setting a precedent that our girls and women can be brutally raped, and the resulting disciplinary action is to hand out (checks notes) ESSAYS (like it’s Bart Simpson being a lil’ rascal) about why it was wrong to brutally violate an innocent girl, we have lost our fucking minds.”
“Arrest them,” wrote “Heated Rivalry” star Hudson Williams on his Instagram story while sharing a photo of the seven accused men. “Fuck them and fuck Cornell, too!”
“The Good Place” and “She-Hulk” actor Jameela Jamil was even more incendiary in her reaction, writing on social media: “I think the likes of the Cornell 7 shouldn’t be allowed penises anymore. They used them as weapons, so now they have to be confiscated. I think jail time, legal castration and a removal of the shaft seems like the bare minimum.”
Florence Pugh was one of the first major celebrities to speak out on the alleged Cornell assaults, calling them a “horrific act” that left her feeling “uneasy and sick and anxious.” Former “South Park” writer Toby Morton, meanwhile, made headlines for launching a website dedicated to documenting the account of the woman (identified as Jane Doe), her lawsuit and the school’s response to the case.
