Photographer Bruce Weber has been accused of sexual misconduct by more male models, according to a report in The Business of Fashion. Over the weekend, the New York Times published a story with allegations from 15 current and former male models. The Times story also included 13 male assistants who accused Mario Testino of unwanted sexual advances.
On Wednesday morning, The Business of Fashion published a report with four more sources going on the record against Weber, and more speaking anonymously. The allegations date back to 1982.
One of those men is D.L. Janney, who described an incident that happened while he was shooting for British Vogue in 1982. During the shoot, Weber asked Janney to strip down to his underwear. He told the model that he wanted to take pictures to send to Calvin Klein (Weber was shooting their campaigns at the time). Weber asked Janney to get completely nude and said the photos wouldn't be published.Janney refused and said that Weber refused to talk to him for the rest of the shoot.
Another man, Christopher Cates, described an incident from 2006. Cates was modeling at Weber's home in Miami when the photographer asked him to go upstairs to another room, away from the rest of the crew. When Weber entered the room, he asked Cates to undress and touched him inappropriately, according to The Business of Fashion.
In the article, two other men described similar situations, and Jason Boyce, the former model who recently filed suit against Weber, described a 'shrug it off' culture around the famous photographer.
'Anytime you'd bring up Bruce it was always like, 'Oh yeah he's a little weird, he's a little creepy, he does these weird breathing exercises,'' Boyce said to The Business of Fashion. 'That's as far as anyone would talk about it. No one would ever fully-fledged say he assaulted me. It was always like a shrug it off, 'Oh well, let's not make this a big deal,' as men do, 'Let's not make this a big deal.''
Boyce's attorney, Lisa Bloom, said that since they filed suit, many more male models have come to her with similar allegations against Weber. When The Business of Fashion reached out to Weber for comment, his representative said he stands by the statement he gave to the Times: 'I'm completely shocked and saddened by the outrageous claims being made against me, which I absolutely deny.
'I have used common breathing exercises and professionally photographed thousands of nude models over my career, but never touched anyone inappropriately. Given my life's work, these twisted and untrue allegations are truly disheartening. I've been taking pictures for over 40 years and have the utmost respect for everyone I've ever photographed. I would never, ever, try to hurt anyone or prevent someone from succeeding — it's just not in my character.'