The artist Kehinde Wiley has been sued in New York by a lady who claims that he sexually assaulted her at a restaurant in 2007. This follows comparable allegations made in opposition to Wiley final 12 months by 4 completely different males, all of which have been denied by the artist who could also be greatest identified for portray President Barack Obama’s Smithsonian portrait.
In February, an artist named Ogechi Chieke filed the lawsuit in opposition to Wiley. In keeping with Chieke, she met Wiley for the primary time at a 2007 gallery opening for a gaggle present wherein Chieke’s work was included. She was “flattered that he was all in favour of her work,” based on the lawsuit. Whereas ready for a desk for dinner after the gallery opening, Chieke alleges that Wiley pressed himself in opposition to her, grabbed her bottom with each arms and pulled her nearer to him. It was at that time that Wiley “forcibly grabbed her vagina—inflicting her extreme ache”, the lawsuit claims. Wiley allegedly advised Chieke that he “would lick that pussy so clear”. Chieke was so upset that she left earlier than dinner, based on the lawsuit, and finally left New York and the artwork world altogether.
“On account of Wiley’s violent sexual assaults, Ms. Chieke has suffered from extreme psychological and emotional misery,” the lawsuit states.
The swimsuit was filed in New York below town’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Safety Legislation, which allowed plaintiffs a two-year window to provoke civil lawsuits in instances that may in any other case have lapsed commonplace statutes of limitations. The lawsuit was first reported on by The Unbiased.
“There is no such thing as a fact to Ms. Chieke’s allegations. I’ve by no means met her, nor do I do know her,” Wiley mentioned in a press release to The Artwork Newspaper, calling the lawsuit a “blatant money-grab”.
“It’s hardly a coincidence that this newest rip-off is happening in the identical 12-month interval the place others tried to shake me down,” Wiley added.
Whereas Wiley was accused of sexual assault by 4 others final 12 months, that is the primary time an accusation has been made in opposition to the artist in courtroom. In Might 2024, the British Ghanaian artist Joseph Awuah-Darko was the primary to return ahead on social media with allegations of sexual misconduct, saying that Wiley groped him at a dinner in Ghana. Later that night time, Awuah-Darko says {that a} sexual encounter between the 2 started consensually however shifted into Wiley assaulting him. Wiley denies the allegations, claiming their contact was a “consensual sexual encounter that was by no means coercive or abusive”.
Just a few months later, the historian Terrell Armistead accused Wiley of sexually assaulting him after assembly at a bar in 2010. Armistead says he went to Wiley’s condo and declined intercourse however woke as much as Wiley performing a sexual act on him with out his consent. Wiley denies ever assembly Armistead.
A fourth accuser, the activist Derrick Ingram (who helped organise New York’s Black Lives Matter marches), claimed Wiley sexually assaulted him throughout a months-long relationship. Wiley says their contact was restricted to a single consensual encounter.
Three US museums postponed or cancelled solo reveals devoted to Wiley after information of the allegations broke: the Pérez Artwork Museum Miami, Minneapolis Museum of Artwork and Joslyn Artwork Museum in Omaha, Nebraska.
