Charles Brownstein

"I feigned to lift up her shirt. It was a stupid, drunken prank, of which I’m ashamed. It was something I’d never done before, nor anything I’d do since. I did not, at any point, grab, fondle, or expose her breast, nor was that ever my intention. I feel terrible for hurting Taki’s feelings. The following day, and on several occasions since, I apologized to Taki for my bad behavior. I also spoke with Ken at several points over the course of the weekend, to see if we could find a way to honorably set matters right. Unfortunately my sincere apologies have all been rejected. I continue to feel genuine regret that I hurt someone I regarded as a friend, and I hoped she would accept my repeated apology, but since that’s not the case, I want to end the speculation surrounding this incident, because it’s not fair to the industry or to the people this was being speculated about."

"I was thrown into the pool area by surprise a couple of times by this one man, which made me quite unhappy and uncomfortable. This was a person I had met during a convention a little over year ago and had developed an acquaintanceship from seeing him around at all the conventions I attend. He knew everyone and introduced me to the Editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics, given me advice on my art, shared amusing tales about the industry, etc. – I thought he was definitely someone I’d want to keep within networking relations, or so I thought: After a while, most others went up to their rooms and the remaining people were this individual, my friend Ken and myself; I excused myself and started to leave, but before I succeeded in getting out of the tub, this man grabs my shoulders from behind and started to massage me there, then slip his hands under my shirt, felt around my back and then slipped his left hand toward my left breast. He had his hand cupped on my breast when I pried him off of me. Ken, who was swimming must have noticed what was happening and came in from over the ledge. I then stated again that I am leaving and started to get out of the tub when he grabs onto my shirt with his right hand and attempted to remove it off of me. Ken grabs the man’s offending hand to try to remove it while I grabbed the shirt down to keep it on me. I kept warning the attacker to let go, don’t do this, etc.; and all 3 of us struggled for maybe 10 seconds, it was an awkward struggle because Ken and I are both trying to remove this man’s hand away without having my top ripped or slipped off of me. Ken overpowered him and got his hand off of my shirt. Ken then told me to run back to my room."