On Sunday, the L.A. Times published a report about Hollywood’s goth nightclub Cloak & Dagger, which some former clubgoers allege fostered an environment of sexual misconduct and abuse before its closure earlier this year. One of the people named in the piece is Silicon Valley’s Thomas Middleditch; a woman named Hannah Harding claims the actor made “lewd sexual overtures” and groped her at the venue on October 22, 2019, in addition to groping another woman. When the club’s operations manager Kate Morgan alerted its co-founders, Adam Bravin and Michael Patterson, and asked that Middleditch be removed from the club, they allegedly “dismissed it.”
According to Harding, the actor later messaged her, saying, “I had no idea my actions were that weird for you” and “I am so ashamed I made you uncomfortable.” Afterward, Bravin allegedly contacted Harding to imply she was mistaken about the incident entirely. “Adam called me ‘to make sure and get a second opinion on him’ because they didn’t trust my story in the first place,” she says. “They cared more about famous people at their club than women’s safety.” According to the Times, this was not the first complaint staff had made to management about Middleditch’s conduct.
The Times piece, which features the account of ten women, four of whom are former employees, goes on to describe how the “uninhibited, LGBTQ-friendly, members-only club” where “experimental artists perform eerie, sexually charged ceremonies each week in the back rooms of the Pig ‘N Whistle bar” allegedly created an culture where the boundary-pushing elements of the venue were used as an excuse to ignore complaints about sexual harassment or abuse, particularly if they were made against famous people. However, per the Times, Cloak & Dagger had expelled famous members before, including screenwriter Max Landis, who was accused of sexual and emotional abuse in 2019, though not at the club.
In another incident, a woman named Elizabeth claims that an unnamed “prominent Cloak member” sexually assaulted her at his apartment in October 2018. After telling a friend, an actress at the club, about the incident, the pair confronted the man, after which the actress said she was banned for a month and called into a company meeting with Bravin and Elizabeth’s alleged assaulter. “Michael and Adam were furious with her,” says Morgan. “They suspended her, apologized to the member, and said to move on.” Bravin tells the Times, “I spoke with the [accused] member the following day, and he gave his account of a consensual experience.” He reportedly did not contact Elizabeth for her account.
In statements to the Times, the club’s co-founders denied the allegations against the venue, which announced its closure in January. “As far as I am aware, they reported every incident to us, and to my knowledge, we dealt with every single issue brought to our attention,” said Patterson. Bravin added, “Our goal from day one was to create the safest space possible.” A representative for Middleditch declined to comment to the Times about its report.
