The women of West Side Story recently spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the sexual assault allegations against the film’s male lead, Ansel Elgort.
In June 2020, nine months after shooting wrapped, a woman accused Elgort of sexually assaulting her in 2014, when she was 17 and he was 20. He claims that the encounter was “brief, legal and entirely consensual.”
Ariana DeBose told the outlet, “Nobody really knows what’s going on in anyone’s head. Only the people who were involved in that situation know what actually went down.” Rita Moreno added, “I think it would have been absolutely horrendous and wrong for anyone to take sides in that matter. It’s not for me to make those judgments.”
Rachel Zegler, who played Maria to Elgort’s Tony went into more detail. The future Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs actress said, “We made a movie two and a half years ago, and a lot has gone on in the world since then. A lot has changed very publicly, and privately as well. There’s been a lot of awakening. You just hope that the people involved are OK, that they are asked in a respectful manner and that they are given the opportunity to answer for themselves.”
Although Elgort has participated in group interviews, he has otherwise not done any press to promote the film which was released on December 10th, 2021.