Today, BuzzFeed News published a very lengthy account from a Canadian woman who accused actor Timothy Hutton of raping her when she was 14-years-old in 1983, with the piece going into detail on the night of the alleged rape, the people who could corroborate the story (and whether or not they do), and what was going through the woman’s mind before, during, after, and since. It also goes in depth on why the woman, Sera Johnston, says she waited until now to make the accusations public, and what happened when she initially made the accusations against Hutton in 2017 (she says he offered her a small settlement in exchange for her signing an agreement that absolves Hutton of any alleged wrongdoing).
Hutton, meanwhile, has quickly and emphatically denied assaulting her, saying he has been targeted by “multiple extortion attempts” from the woman and that she only went to the press with her “false allegation” because he refused to pay the “millions of dollars” she wanted. As reported by Deadline, Hutton says he went to the FBI, “signed a sworn statement,” and filed a criminal complaint against the woman for allegedly trying to extort money out of him. Hutton’s lawyers also told Deadline that they intend to demand a retraction from BuzzFeed. Deadline also notes that the FBI wouldn’t confirm whether or not Hutton contacted them, but also that the Vancouver Police that supposedly received Johnston’s complaint against Hutton (which she didn’t file until last year) also would not confirm whether they had been notified of any allegations or if there was an investigation underway.
In a bit of strange timing that most likely had nothing to do with this news, Hutton’s Fox show Almost Family was canceled today, having ended its first season at the end of February. The Hollywood Reporter says the show’s ratings were in the bottom five across all of the major networks this season, averaging just 2.5 million per episode.