Silicon Valley's T.J. Miller accused of violently assaulting his college girlfriend

Comedian and former Silicon Valley actor T.J. Miller is accused of violently sexually assaulting his former girlfriend while the two attended George Washington University. "We started to fool around, and very early in that, he put his hands around my throat and closed them, and I couldn't breathe," the woman, who asked not to be named out of fear of repercussions, told The Daily Beast. "I was genuinely terrified and completely surprised … [A]s someone who had only begun having sexual encounters, like, about three months earlier, I had no awareness this was a kink, and I had certainly not entered into any agreement that I would be choked."

The woman said the incident escalated into further violence that she tried to protest. Her roommates recalled the alleged incident — which eventually went to student court — with one saying: "My [other] roommate was in my bedroom with me and we heard a loud smacking noise, and we were concerned … The very next day when we talked to [Miller's girlfriend] she was very upset, and … had said he had hit her in a very violent way."

Another housemate, Katie Duffy, recalled: "She looked like she had been through a rough night — I recall seeing bruises [on her]. One roommate asked if she wanted to go to the police. Others offered to take her to the hospital, given how she looked."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Miller has denied the allegations, claiming the woman "is now using the current climate to bandwagon and launch these false accusations again." The Daily Beast additionally reports that Miller has "privately joked about committing violence against a woman in his past" and that some female comedians have avoided working with him "citing a perceived history of abusive behavior." Read the full allegations at The Daily Beast.