Brian Jordan Alvarez accused by former costar of sexual assault

Actor Jon Ebeling has accused Brian Jordan Alvarez of sexual assault and sexual harassment during the time the actors worked together on The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo — a 2016 web series written and directed by Alvarez, who also starred in it as the titular character.

Ebeling says Alvarez, currently starring in the FX comedy series English Teacher, performed oral sex on him without his consent while filming a sex scene for Caleb Gallo. Vulture first reported the story this week.

Alvarez, through his spokesperson, denies the allegations, saying his "interactions with Jon Ebeling were always entirely consensual — as numerous witnesses have attested."

Ebeling filed a report on the alleged assault with the Los Angeles Police Department on Aug. 29, shortly before English Teacher premiered to critical acclaim. According to the report, Ebeling says Alvarez performed oral sex on him, without his consent, "during the shooting of a YouTube series" through Alvarez's use of his own "bodily force." The incident is reported to have taken place almost nine years ago, on Jan. 11, 2016, in theEast Hollywood area. The California statute of limitations for adult victims of sexual assault is 10 years.

Ebeling also filed a sexual harassment claim with the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) on Oct. 15. But it's unclear whether SAG will get involved; Caleb Gallo was not a SAG set, though Ebeling said its stars were members and some guidelines could still apply. SAG declined to comment on the claim.

Alvarez and Ebeling were real-life friends when they began filming Caleb Gallo nine years ago. In fact, most of the cast and crew were part of a friend group of struggling actors, and many elements of the storyline were drawn from their real lives. "Everybody was attracted to Brian because when he wanted to do something, he would do it," a former friend told Vulture. "He was the go-getter and then hired all his friends."

The Vulture story describes a close connection, with often blurry boundaries, among the friends in that group, particularly Alvarez, Ebeling and Stephanie Koenig, their costar in Caleb Gallo who now appears alongside Alvarez in English Teacher. That connection was depicted almost beat-for-beat in episodes of Caleb Gallo; in the show, Alvarez's character has a crush on Ebeling's character, but sets him up on a date with Koenig's character.

In real life, Ebeling and Koenig started dating in November 2015 after being introduced to each other by Alvarez. Shortly after that, Ebeling says Alvarez came to his house and "immediately started pressuring" him to have sex. Ebeling, who identifies as straight, told Out that he refused — "I kept saying, from the very beginning, 'No, I'm really into your friend, Steph; that's kind of all I'm interested in,'" — but felt pressured.

"I must've said no to him 20-something times," Ebeling said. "Eventually, he just wore me down. I relented to letting him blow me, which lasted, I think, maybe a minute and a half before I went soft. And I really, I did it just to… I know this sounds weird, but almost, on some level, just to not make it awkward."

A few months later, Ebeling said Alvarez wrote that moment into an episode of Caleb Gallo. A working script for episode 3 of the show, which Ebeling shared with Out, depicts a scene where Alvarez's character (Caleb) performs oral sex on Ebeling's character (Billy). But according to Ebeling and his police report, when filming this scene, Alvarez performed oral sex on him even though the scene only "required the simulation of the oral sex act," noting that the act itself wouldn't be captured by cameras since Alvarez was "covered by bed sheets while engaged in simulating the act."

The report says Ebeling was "shocked and unsure on how to react to the incident," and then "walked away from the area." Ebeling noted in the report that he "was flaccid and was not aroused" following the incident. The scene was later cut and not included in the final version of the show on YouTube.

In the aftermath of filming the scene, Ebeling described what happened to him as rape, according to multiple text messages he sent to friends and family at the time.

"He was so wrong honey," Ebeling told Koenig in a text message on Jan. 12, 2016, the day after filming the scene. "If he doesn't know now he'll do it again to someone else."

Ebeling wrote in a subsequent message, "This should never have happened on set. I didn't ask for it, Steph. I didn't deserve it. It's not my fault."

A spokesperson for Alvarez called Vulture's story on the alleged assault "reckless" and "salacious."

"For many months, Mr. Ebeling has peddled his falsehoods to anyone who would listen but, when confronted with proof of his duplicity and definitive evidence provided by third parties showing why Mr. Ebeling should not be trusted, numerous media outlets declined to print his outrageous claims," the statement said.

When asked why he's coming forward now with this allegation against Alvarez, Ebeling told Out that he was "really able to reevaluate things" during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. "Brian is just a highly abusive person," he said.