Joe Gatto has issued a response after a woman accused the Impractical Jokers alum of sexually assaulting her.
“I have used poor judgment and as a result have violated the trust of the people I love most,” said Gatto in a statement to multiple outlets. “But anyone who knows me at all knows full well that I wouldn’t assault anyone. Working on myself is an ongoing process, and I am now going to take some time away from the public eye to focus my energies where I need to.”
A TikTok user who goes by joozyb previously accused the comedian of sexually assaulting her when she was 19, claiming the incident occurred at a Milwaukee hotel after seeing one of his shows in September 2023.
“I got sexually assaulted by Joe Gatto, the Impractical Joker,” she said in a video posted on Thursday, noting that she’s been sharing about the experience with Gatto “for over a year” and didn’t expect it to suddenly go viral.
Sharing alleged screenshots of their DMs, joozyb said that after providing meet and greet passes for her, Gatto put the conversation in vanish mode and invited her upstairs to his hotel room.
She also shared a photo of bruises on her backside, claiming Gatto made them “with his teeth,” adding that it happened after he’d “JUST gotten back together with his wife.”
“I’ve been wanting to tell people this for so long,” she said. “I’ve tried in different ways, but it’s hard with somebody this big. [I’ve] come to the realization that if I do say something, that I’m really saying something.”
Along with his Tenderloins comedy troupe—Sal Vulcano, James Murray and Brian Quinn—Gatto starred on the TruTV hidden camera series Impractical Jokers from 2011 to 2021.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, help is available via RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673) and their online chat hotline.
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