Actor Kip Pardue Hit With $6K Fine For Allegedly Masturbating In Front Of Female Co-Star

Actor Kip Pardue has reportedly been fined $6,000 for “serious misconduct” by the Screen Actors Guild one year after he was accused of masturbating in front of a female co-star and behaving inappropriately on set.

The allegations first became public last year, when actress Sarah Scott, 35, told the Los Angeles Times that Pardue engaged in various forms of sexual misconduct while they were both filming a pilot for the series “Mogulettes” earlier that year. On one occasion when the two were filming a sex scene together, Pardue took her hand and placed it on his crotch, she alleged. He later allegedly masturbated in front of her in his dressing room.

Nearly a year after Scott first came forward with her story, SAG’s disciplinary committee held a private hearing in March on the issue before ruling that Pardue, 43, was “guilty of serious misconduct in violation” of their constitution, the Los Angeles Times reports, citing a letter Scott received notifying her of the decision.

The group addressed Pardue in the letter directly, writing that the union “censures and admonishes you for this inappropriate and unprofessional conduct,” according to the outlet. Pardue was hit with a $6,000 fine, but he will be required to pay only half of that amount if he chooses to complete an online sexual harassment course within 90 days of the decision, according to the Times. He will also be subject to further disciplinary measures should he be found guilty of similar allegations within the span of five years, but a SAG-AFTRA spokesperson declined to give the Times details “on specifics regarding disciplinary matters due to the confidentiality of such cases.”

Pardue told the Times last year that he “misread the situation” during the sex scene he filmed with Scott and “deeply [regretted]” his actions that day. Although he apologized for putting her hand on his groin while filming, he denied the rest of Scott’s allegations; he issued a similar comment to the Times in Sunday's report, with his lawyer stating that Pardue “never engaged in any nonconsensual behavior.”

But after Scott came forward with her allegations, another actress, Andrea Bogart, reportedly followed suit. Bogart claimed in an affidavit given to SAG’s legal department prior to the hearing that, after filming a sex scene with Pardue for Showtime’s “Ray Donovan” in 2014, Pardue came to her dressing room and began masturbating in front of her.

It was a similar story to Scott’s, who said last year that the alleged masturbation incident left her feeling frozen before she managed to flee the dressing room. Although Scott did file a police report in relation to her claims, she ultimately opted not to press charges, and instead reported the incident to SAG-AFTRA, the Times reports.

Scott told the paper that the ruling left her with mixed feelings.

“Overall, I’m OK with it, but it’s a weird feeling. I don’t know if I’m supposed to feel good about the punishment or not,” she said. “I would have liked to have seen a couple of years’ suspension, but this is a step in the right direction. What was the most important for me was that others who come forward in the future know that the union is willing to take these complaints seriously and create a space where they can be heard."