“Below Deck Sailing Yacht” star Gary King said stewardess Ashley Marti didn’t “assault” him when they briefly had sex while he was more inebriated than she was after a crew night out.
“People are very concerned – they feel like they were very uncomfortable watching it,” Andy Cohen told King during his appearance on “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen” on Monday night.
The first mate, 33, thanked his fans for “looking out for [him,]” but he assured him that he’s moved past the situation.
“I didn’t think much of it then, and right now, I don’t think much of it too,” King said. “I just think that people on social media blew it up bigger than what it actually was.”
Cohen, 54, once again emphasized that social media users thought he was “assaulted,” but King reminded fans that he and Marti, 24, hooked up earlier that season.
“Yeah I could see how they saw that, but in the first place, I did hook up with Ashley prior to that happening … I just wish I wasn’t that drunk,” he continued. “I think it boils down to hooking up with Ashley was a mistake in the first place and it shouldn’t have happened from the get-go, really.”
The “WWHL” host then bluntly asked him if he felt he was “assaulted.”
“No, I don’t,” King firmly replied. “I don’t, and I appreciate everyone standing up for me, but I’ve got a voice of my own and I could use it if I felt I was assaulted.”
The alleged “assault” took place a few episodes back when Marti and King went to a guest cabin, so she could give him a massage. But in his drunken state of mind, King didn’t realize they were having sex until she told him.
“Get it out, okay we’re not having sex, we’re not having sex,” King told her, to which she replied him, “we are, it’s already in.”
The following day, Marti claimed she gave him a blowjob, to which King found it “embarrassing” that he didn’t remember. Marti continued telling everyone they had sex regardless of what he remembers for the next few episodes.
Several fans took to Twitter to share how Marti’s behavior was “beyond gross” and “not okay.”
“I was appalled while watching this week’s Below Deck,” someone tweeted. “Does Ashley know what rape and sexual assault are? The show shows her stalking Gary this season. Gary goes along with the flirting. However he is clearly saying no. If the rolls [sic] were reversed she would be arrested.”
“If the roles were reversed, Gary would be accused of sexual assault, taking advantage of a drunk girl…what Ashley did, was not okay,” another added. “She has been on a mission to sleep with Gary and the whole thing is beyond gross.”
“Ashley taking Gary downstairs for a ‘massage’ and then forcing him to have sex with her when he is half passed out is sexual assault,” someone else tweeted. “If she was a guy the police would be involved. You could see how uncomfortable Gary was. He literally ran away from her!”