I made multiple attempts to say no.’: More men accuse former Abercrombie CEO of organizing sex events. I tried to say no repeatedly’: More men accuse ex-Abercrombie boss over sex events made several attempts to say no: More men accuse ex-Abercrombie boss over sex events says he was shocked as he was guided into Mike Jeffries’ presidential suite in a hotel in Spain. “It felt like a scene out of an Abercrombie movie,” he says of the 2011 occasion. “And I thought we were going to do a photo shoot.”
He says the room was dimly lit with erotic photos of men’s abs adorning the dark walls. In the middle, a group of assistants dressed in Abercrombie & Fitch uniforms – polos, blue jeans and flipLuke says he was shocked as he was guided into Mike Jeffries’ presidential suite in a hotel in Spain. “It was like a movie set of an Abercrombie store,” he recalls of the event in 2011. “And I had assumed we were going to have a picture session.”
He says the room was dimly lit with erotic photos of men’s abs adorning the dark walls. In the middle, a group of assistants dressed in Abercrombie & Fitch uniforms – polos, blue jeans and flip-flops – were casually folding clothes on a table, pretending to be shop workers, he says.
Luke, who was then twenty years old, claims he was given the opportunity to appear in a corporate advertisement provided he traveled from Los Angeles to Madrid to meet with the CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F).
Luke says the proposal had come via a modelling website from a man who said he worked as a talent scout and executive assistant for Mr Jeffries – then head of the billion-dollar teen retailer.
Warning: This story contains accounts of sexual violence
He claims that while in the suite, Mr. Jeffries’ helpers started acting out scenarios, pushing him to play the part of the shirtless greeter that was popular at the time in A&F stores. “Now I have two very important guests, and these are going to be the customers that you need to impress and entertain because they are going to be buying a lot of clothes from you,” the talent scout said, according to Luke.
Luke, pictured in silhouette, looking at the skyline in Los Angeles
Luke says he thought he was meeting Mike Jeffries for a modelling job
At that moment, he says Mr Jeffries and his life partner, Matthew Smith, came out of a corner of the room. They immediately started touching him and Mr Jeffries forcibly kissed him, he says. “I was trying to avoid the whole situation as much as I could, but Michael was very aggressive.” He says the Abercrombie boss then performed oral sex on him.
“I tried to say no repeatedly. And then I just got kind of convinced to do something. But I constantly was saying no, and I wanted to go.”
___
