Pepper Ellett, 25, alleges she was raped at Manhattan’s Happy Ending Lounge late last month. Yet she feels that the police aren’t taking her case seriously, nor is the bar, which immediately fired the employee in question—but didn’t turn him into the police. A rep for that same bar, which has been in the news for another incident in which one of the owners was accused of assaulting a woman, later claimed that there was only a “10 percent” chance Ellett was actually raped.
Ellett’s story became fodder for New York gossip blogs after she wrote a post on Facebook detailing how, after finally mustering the courage to report her rape to the police, she spent “10 straight hours without food between the hospital, SVU (Special Victims Unit) and in the care of policeman,” who, for the most part assumed they were dealing with a “party girl” who had gotten too drunk, even though the rape kit’s results were reportedly consistent with sexual assault. Ellett’s name has been circulated throughout the media because of her own wish to raise awareness. Because of her willingness to be identified, it’s her story that has become an object of speculation—as opposed to her alleged assaulter’s, whose identity still has not been made public.
On August 5, a spokesperson for the bar said, “The CCTV tapes show clearly that the alleged victim was seen kissing at the bar with the employee and was seen entering the bathroom of her own free will. It shows a 90 percent chance it was consensual behavior.”
Max Levai, one of Happy Ending’s three owners, later retracted that initial statement, but linked the case to another in which he feels a woman is overreacting after allegedly being assaulted.
He said:
On a separate note, the statements released by an external communications representative to Page 6 of the New York Post yesterday were not approved or corroborated by the establishment; we have severed our relationship with that firm as a result. We want to make plain that, at this early stage in the investigation, the details of what happened on the night in question are not yet clear, and it is not our place to opine on the veracity of the complainant’s allegations—that is for the police to determine.
However, we do know that certain third parties are attempting to use those very serious allegations as part of a broader scheme to extort money from the establishment and others in connection with an entirely separate dispute that does not involve either the complainant or the accused. Our attorneys are conducting their own inquiry into these matters, and will pursue all appropriate legal action.
According to Ellett, she and her friends Rachel and Desiree arrived at Happy Ending Lounge on the Lower East Side around 12:30 am the morning of July 29. The women had been slowly drinking for the past several hours after a night out that included an after-work dinner, and they had chosen the bar as a last stop on the way to Rachel’s apartment.
Ellett says she had only half of her vodka soda before she began to feel seriously disoriented and confused about why she felt so drunk so quickly. Moments later, she says, a barback approached her and began talking before quickly leading her into one of the bar’s single stall bathrooms. At that point, Desiree and Rachel went outside for a cigarette.
When they returned, they saw Ellett stumbling out of the bathroom, shaken up, “her clothes a mess… like someone else tried to put them back on,” Desiree told Jezebel, and Ellett begged to leave. Shortly after, Ellett alleged to her friend that inside the bathroom the employee had forced her to fellate him before he pinned himself on top of her and began to rape her.
Ellett now believes she was drugged because of how little she can recall: “The only thing I do remember is crying on the sidewalk after,” she said.
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