Actress and creator Noa Koller published today (Friday) the first response to an investigation on the “Politically Calling” website, which revealed allegations by a number of women that co-creator Erez Driggs allegedly sexually harassed them.
“I’m broken and in pain. Erez Driggs is my friend and partner for work and creativity. I was unaware of his intimate, disturbing and sexual behaviors on any level. It’s not our kind of relationship. We lead separate personal lives and respect each other’s privacy, certainly when it comes to sexuality. For I knew, that four years ago, during the writing of ‘Rehearsals’, Erez called me in for a conversation and confessed to me that he was addicted to sex in recovery. “He’s in daily contact. I asked him if he had committed a criminal or violent act against anyone and he told me never, and that all his sexual interactions were always legal and with full consent, and also asked me to include a sex addict in the series, as part of recovery and to provoke public discourse.” Koller wrote on her Instagram account.
“Sexual assault is a very serious thing that I strongly condemn. My heart aches for the victims. Erez behaved inappropriately and violently I was not aware of. The details revealed broke me, it is not Erez I know, and I still have a hard time digesting. I encourage women and men who have been harmed, “Speaking and exposing the cases and traumas. The change that is happening is a welcome and very important change. It is important to me personally as a woman and as a mother,” she added.
“I think it is important that Erez takes full responsibility for his actions in the past and has taken care of himself for many years, so that there will be no more victims. I want to believe that a person can change his ways, and at the same time I do not know if there is and how to alleviate the victims. “I have nothing to say right now, it seems to me unimportant, and I really ran out of words. The work is not as important as life. I embrace all the partners in the work that hurt along with me,” Koller concluded.
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As you may recall, the “Politically Calling” website revealed on Wednesday evening several testimonies of women about abusive conduct and harassment of a sexually blatant nature, allegedly on the part of the actor and playwright Erez Driggs (“Rehearsals”).
According to the investigation, the actor conducted sexual correspondence with the women, some of them minors, who continued even after they asked him to stop. It was further alleged that Driggs “systematically harmed women in the world of theater and outside it”, and that his behavior led to “the active exclusion of women and prevented them from advancing or at least feeling comfortable in the environment”.
In response to the investigation, Driggs said that “the post written by Ofir Sagarsky following my interview with Yedioth Ahronoth flooded my behavior, behavior that harmed her, behavior that harmed others as well. I am aware of that, I understand this well and therefore even before the things she wrote I did everything necessary To change.
Part of that change was writing the series ‘Rehearsals’, which put in awkward and unworthy sides in prime time that I regret and am ashamed of. As part of this change, I also revealed the messages in the same interview in Yedioth, the details of which are presented in part here.
This process is personal, it is not over yet and I hope that in time I can apologize to those I have hurt, but it is important for me to emphasize that I have never let any personal interest influence professional decisions. I will never give up and I outright reject any hint that claims otherwise. “