Stunt Coordinator Joel Kramer Accused of Additional Sexual Assault Following Eliza Dushku Allegation
Zack Sharf
Stunt coordinator Joel Kramer has been accused of additional acts of sexual misconduct following an initial allegation from actress Eliza Dushku. Dushku posted a statement on Facebook alleging Kramer sexually assaulted her on the set of “True Lies” when she was 12 years old. Now stunt woman Laura Albert has told Deadline that Kramer was sexually inappropriate with her 15-year-old sister and her 16-year-old friend on the 1997 set of “Virus.”
“I invited my younger sister to the set as she resided there,” Albert said to Deadline in a written statement. “I wanted her to come to the set in an effort to mentor her, to show her the motion picture industry from the inside, as she had desired to become a makeup artist. One day after we finished work, I had my sister and her friend, who were 15 and 16 and in the 10th grade, come out to hang with all the stunt personnel as we were going to go go-karting.”
According to Albert, Kramer “lured the girls to go swimming at the pool in his hotel” later that evening. Her sister ended up leaving the pool but her 16-year-old friend stayed and ended up having sex with Kramer, who was 39 at the time. The incident occurred during the making of “Virus” in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Kramer has admitted he had sex with the 16-year-old, but he tells Deadline the act was consensual. 16 is the legal limit in North Carolina. The stunt coordinator responded to Albert’s claim by telling Deadline that he never invited the teenagers to his room.
“One girl on her own came to my room as she was legal age,” he said. “I was swimming laps one early evening and the sister of one of my stunt doubles and her friend showed up at the pool. I did not invite them. They swam around and I finished my laps and went up to my room alone. Period.”
Kramer said that a half hour later the 16-year-old friend went to his hotel room and knocked on the door. He admits to “fooling around” with her but said they did not have intercourse.
“I honestly did not know she was 17,” he wrote. “Tattoos, and yes, pretty. When I found out I was devastated. I also checked with the local laws and found out 16 was the consensual age. It bothered me for years. Yes all was consensual.”
He later told Deadline that the alleged consensual encounter was a “huge mistake” and he “won’t lie about it.”
“He’s a liar,” Albert told Deadline. “I’ll go toe-to-toe with him to his face. He lured the girls after we went to our rooms that night after go-karting. He’s so full of shit.”
In addition to Albert’s claim, another stunt woman has told Deadline that Kramer sexually assaulted her. The woman has chosen to remain anonymous but says that the stunt coordinator forced her to perform oral sex on him during the late 1970s or early 1980s in the San Fernando Valley.
The woman says after going out for drinks with other stunt workers, she ended up in Kramer’s car. He allegedly drove the the two “up into the hills on the south of side of Ventura Boulevard” and pulled the car over and “pulled out his penis.”
“He grabbed me by the back of my head and forced my face down onto his penis and came in my mouth,” the woman told Deadline. “He then released my head and cleaned himself up.”
Kramer has denied the allegation: “It saddens me that now people will use me as their target of opportunity. Please do not take these at face value. I am sorry for this witch hunt.”
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