Aziz Ansari on Sexual Misconduct Allegations

Aziz Ansari is turning the page on a new chapter.

But just because he has stayed just outside of the spotlight in recent years, doesn’t mean he’s forgotten the events that led to his quiet retreat: in 2018, a woman who went by the name of “Grace” published an article in which she alleged she was pressured into sex after a night out with the Master of None star. 

Though Aziz previously addressed the allegation in a statement at the time—in which he said he was “surprised and concerned” as he thought their interactions had been “completely consensual”—and in his 2019 comedy special Aziz Ansari: Right Now, he is now sharing why he didn’t publicly address his accuser directly. 

“I mean, I apologized to the person personally, right? When it happened,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in a feature published Sept. 3. “I did that tour, and I wanted to address it in the special because people were curious about how I felt about the whole experience. So, I felt like I had to talk about it in the special.”