Karla Souza Receives Support Following Rape Allegations Against Mexican Director
Karla Souza received an outpour of support from Hollywood celebrities following rape allegations against Mexican director Gustavo Loza.
The 'How To Get Away With Murder' star received supportive tweets from stars like Viola Davis, Brie Larson, and Gina Rodriguez after sharing her horrific experience with the Mexican director.
Ana De La Reguera, a Mexican actress known for her role as Elisa Alvaro in Narcos, also showed support to Karla in a tweet after Loza went on a press tour to defend himself.
Karla Souza, who famously plays Laurel Castillo in the hit series 'How To Get Away With Murder', spoke of the incident during an interview with Carmen Aristegui in CNN en Espanol.
In the interview, Souza detailed the attack by the director during a one-month shoot in Mexico.
"However, I get to the set, on location and we are to film there for a month and coincidentally they take me to a hotel ... and all the other actors were staying at another hotel," she said.
She claims to have asked staff who else was staying in the hotel, to which they answered, "Well, just you and the director."
Souza said the director visited her at 2 am to talk about a scene she was supposed to do. She also shared the director would attempt to flirt with her.
She said she was psychologically abused by the director, saying whenever she rejected his advances, he would humiliate her in front of staff and cast the following day.
Karla said she gave in after a month of dealing with the director's "total abuse of power," letting him kiss her and touch her in ways she "did not want him to."
The actress also confirmed suffering from a violent attack and getting raped while wiping her tears during the interview.
Televisa, an audiovisual content production company located in Mexico, has since broken all ties with director Loza in a statement read by Televisa journalist, Denise Maerker.
The production company said the decision came after a preliminary investigation. The company also canceled projects where the director was a participant.
"Furthermore, any project that has Loza's participation has been canceled. Loza is not an employee of Televisa, but has collaborated in projects with the network for several years. We want to manifest our solidarity with Karla Souza and are in the best disposition so the legal investigation. Televisa will not tolerate acts like the once revealed today," they said.
Mexican director Gustavo Loza took to Twitter to deny accusations against him, saying Televisa accused him without foundation regarding the case of the alleged violation.
In an interview for a digital radio show Aristegui Noticias, Loza said the allegations caused him and his family deep pain. He also questioned Televisa's accusation without having any proof.
He described the production company's act as "lynching."
He also claimed to have tried to contact Karla Souza after the announcement by Televisa but had failed to receive an answer.
Loza claimed he and Souza were friends who, at one time, shared a consensual relationship, and even worked on projects after their relationship ended.
The director maintained he has a clean and implacable reputation and believed his dismissal was because of other reasons.