Top models Barrett Pall and Kai Braden allege that they were sexually assaulted by photographer Rick Day when they were teenagers.
This news comes at a time when the discussion of consent between photographers and models has been intensified after The New York Times reported alleged abuse by Mario Testino and Bruce Weber and The Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team revealed harassment allegations against photographers like Patrick Demarchelier and David Bellemere.
As Pall told The Advocate, he initially declined an opportunity to shoot with Day given his portfolio of nude and seminude shoots, but a go-see in October 2017 (where Day took a few head and body shots) led to a full shoot where Pall says, Day took erotic pictures and performed an unwanted sex act on the teenage model.
As The Advocate reported, Day pressured Pall to change in front of him, oil him up and told him to start rubbing himself to keep slightly erect to “fill out the underwear,” and then adjusted his underwear to graze his genitals inappropriately.
“Since the #MeToo movement started, I haven’t been able to go a day without feeling triggered and I now recognize I am suffering from PTSD,” Pall said to The Advocate. “Until you are in this position, you truly don’t know what it is like to have your career hanging over you. The predators in the fashion and entertainment industry run in circles, help each other out, and have each other’s backs. There is a reason why this systemic issue is only just coming out, and why it is not going to go away anytime soon.”
Pall began uploading YouTube videos discussing the dark side in his modeling career and says Day messaged him multiple times apologizing but not taking accountability.
The Advocate reached out to other models who have worked with Day, including Robert Sepulveda Jr., but many had had different experiences. "I never once felt intimidated or felt I had to do something I wasn’t comfortable with,” Sepulveda told The Advocate about working with Day.
But others, including Kai Braden, came forward when Pall’s story surfaced saying he was assaulted by Day in 2006 when he was 18. He alleges Day pinned him against the wall with his “hand around my neck” and his “mouth to ear.” When Braden started to panic, Day allegedly told him “it was OK, that I should just relax.”
“I remember he asked if I had ever had sex with a guy before, and I told him I had never had sex period,” the model told The Advocate. Day, whose fingers were on Braden’s anus, “seemed to ease off when I told him that.”
The Advocate reached out to Day, requesting comment on the allegations. He was initially interested in meeting in person to talk about the story, but a few hours later, responded with “no comment.”
In the ensuing years, Pall and Day continued to stay in touch — a connection Pall said he maintained largely because he felt pressure to keep a decent relationship for his own sake as a working model.
In November 2008, Pall thought he’d seen a photo of Day’s in Vogue and reached out to inquire about another shoot. “You sure you are ready for another session in front of my camera?” asks Day. “I think so,” says Pall, adding, “I don’t want to do anything nude frontal, but I love the way my pictures came out.”
While Pall says there was repeated sexual harassment by Day at further shoots, the model says he stopped it before they could escalate. Pall adds that since the 2007 shoot, he's done other nude shoots — including on separate occasions with photographers Tony Duran and Marco Ovando — but says he has never done full frontal in an image since that day.
When Pall began uploading YouTube videos revealing the dark side of modeling, he says Day messaged him multiple times to apologize for making him uncomfortable but refused accountability.
In one email obtained by The Advocate, Day asked him to take part in his annual erotic calendar, Castings. “I had seen your video about the modeling industry and thought out of respect I would ask,” Day wrote, adding, “But as I re-watched it I think you were talking a lot about me ... oiling you .... and ‘selling images’ to magazines without your permission.” He continued, “First, you could have oiled yourself but most models are not quite as smart as you ... and you never asked.”A post would later pop up on Shit Model Management — an Instagram account that highlights unhealthy aspects of being a model — asking anyone who’d been harassed by Day to message the account holders. According to emails obtained by The Advocate, Day reached out to Pall soon after the post, accusing him of posting it. “I see what you have done with shit models,” he writes. “And to be honest I [am] glad you are putting this out as I feel like I am being blackmailed as well. I think everything should be out.”
Pall interpreted these emails as threatening, claiming Day’s reference to “everything” includes leaking the 2007 erotic photos he promised to never publish. However, Day followed up with an apology for “misreading” Pall’s lack of consent during the 2007 shoot. He also confirmed, “No matter what happens… I promise your pics will never surface.” Day refused to comment about the messages to The Advocate.
Other models have had different experiences with Day altogether. Robert Sepulveda Jr., former fashion model and star of Logo’s Finding Prince Charming, has worked with the photographer a handful of times over the last 10 years and vouches that Day has been professional on set, though he admits he can speak only of his own experiences.
“I never once felt intimidated or felt I had to do something I wasn’t comfortable with,” Sepulveda tells The Advocate about working with Day. “I always felt I could at any moment stop the photo shoot if I wanted, which in my case never happened. One must also understand that some of Rick's most well-known images, his style of photography, are of men generally nude or in very provocative positions. If both parties agree to work with each other and these provocative images are the end goal, then ‘male models’ would already understand what they are signing up for.”
Sepulveda adds, “There is no doubt of Rick Day's genius and talent, but allegations of sexual harassment should never be taken lightly.
I do hope this matter clears up for all parties involved.”
Fashion model Kenneth Guidroz Page, who is signed with Soul Artist Management under Kanner, has lived with Day in his one-bedroom New York City apartment for short periods of time. “I’ve known Rick for some time now and have never heard him saying anything even close to inappropriate to anyone,” he tells The Advocate. Page was tapped by Ben Eskridge, former vice president of the Ralph Lauren men’s advertising division, to be the face of the brand’s fragrance campaign. Eskridge abruptly left Ralph Lauren in December, a month before the Times article on Testino and Weber was published.
“Since the #MeToo movement started, I haven’t been able to go a day without feeling triggered and I now recognize I am suffering from PTSD,” Pall says. “Until you are in this position, you truly don’t know what it is like to have your career hanging over you. The predators in the fashion and entertainment industry run in circles, help each other out, and have each other’s backs. There is a reason why this systemic issue is only just coming out, and why it is not going to go away anytime soon.”
“One aspect of the Model Alliance’s work is to come up with novel approaches to securing legal protections for models, both through legislation and through a new program we have developed, which, through contract law, would require companies to enter into binding commitments to uphold a code of conduct,” says Ziff. These kinds of requirements have proven successful in the agriculture and food industries because they enforce real consequences. “Participating companies are held to expel anyone who’s found to be a harasser through a credible investigation to commit serious offenses, such as sexual harassment involving physical contact,” she adds of the success in other industries.
Model Alliance plans on announcing more details of the program soon. Last year, the organization introduced the Models Harassment Protection Act in the New York State legislature — a bill the group hopes will pass this year. The bill affords models protection against sexual and other forms of harassment in the state. Several years ago, the group spearheaded legislation mandating work permits for models under 18 and requiring a chaperone for models under 16. That law became effective in New York State in November 2013.
When the Rick Day post appeared on Shit Model Management, other stories surfaced. Kai Braden, international fashion model, coach, and actor who’s trained numerous celebrities including DJ Vice and Zac Efron (whom he trained for his role in The Greatest Showman) was referred to The Advocate. Braden says he was assaulted by Day in 2006, when he was 18. At the time, Braden was signed with Wilhelmina Creative, an acting and artist management division of Wilhelmina Models that no longer exists. Today he’s under the Sports & Fitness Division.
Braden tells The Advocate that the shoot started off uncomfortably. There was no assistant or team of hair and makeup people, and no space to change without Day seeing him. Still, after being impressed by Day's photos of other successful models, he felt he should continue for the sake of his career. “I became passive throughout the shoot, letting things go even if I felt extreme discomfort,” he says. For one look, Day gave him tiny white shorts and suggested that he get semi-erect to fill in the shorts. Like in the shoot with Pall, Day oiled Braden’s body. But later in the shoot, Braden says Day turned physically aggressive.
He alleges Day pinned him against the wall with his “hand around my neck” and his “mouth to ear.” When Braden started to panic, Day allegedly told him “it was OK, that I should just relax.”
“I remember he asked if I had ever had sex with a guy before, and I told him I had never had sex period,” the model says. Day, whose fingers were on Braden’s anus, “seemed to ease off when I told him that.” Braden claims he was pinned to the wall for at least two minutes until he eventually pushed the photographer off. “He seemed to have gotten the picture, and we wrapped up the shoot,” Braden says. “I tried to get out of there as quick as I can and keep my cool.”
At the time, Pervis Taylor was also signed with Wilhelmina Creative and worked in the office for extra money. He remembers Braden being visibly shaken in the office when talking about the shoot with Day.
“Myself and another person tried to find out what happened,” Taylor tells The Advocate. “I asked [Braden], ‘Why did you take pictures in your underwear? He was like, ‘Oh, he suggested I take pictures in my underwear.’” Taylor says he and Delancey Birzin, a booker at Wilhelmina Creative at the time, were concerned for Braden.
Birzin, who now works as an art director for television, hardly remembers the 2008 incident. “I don't remember the day,” he says, adding, “I do remember Kai having an issue with a photographer, but I can't recall the specific details.”
Braden says he later confided in his agents at Wilhelmina, telling them Day was “touchy-feely,” but still not going into specifics about the assault. He remembers one of them saying something to the effect of, “Yeah, we know,... Rick is like that with guy [models], but he takes great pictures.”
Both Pall and Braden have chosen to share their stories not only to shed light on the mistreatment of young models in the industry, but also to act as a springboard for change. Pall has since quit the modeling industry.
“I know a lot of people will say, 'Why didn’t you just quit?'” Pall says. “But the truth of the matter is the majority of us do this to pay for school, help support our families as best as possible, and if you play the game right, there is the chance to make a lot of money. It’s an industry that constantly dangles a carrot in front of you but then moves it a little farther, so you feel as if you have to keep doing things you are not comfortable with, and after years devoted to this career and industry, you feel as if it’s too late to start something new.”
Pall adds, “A photographer should have never felt comfortable enough to come up to me in the first place and repeatedly put his hands on my body without my permission, let alone sexually violate me.”
Pall argues that the silent recruitment for erotic photo shoots among young male models should never be viewed as standard practice when building one’s portfolio. The system, perpetuated by photographers and a small minority of modeling agents who send them clients, creates a distorted understanding of consent between a subject and the photographer. He says this leads a young model to think it’s what they must endure to get ahead in the fashion world. It is not.
“It would have been easier to not come forward with Rick’s name, keep myself out of this, but his lack of responsibility with this experience is what is leading me to come forward with my story,” Pall says. “I refuse to let any predator I know off the hook because no one else should have to experience any form of abuse anywhere.”
Day was informed about the allegations made by Pall and then by Braden. The Advocate followed up on April 11 and asked if his position was still no comment. Day replied, “Yes.” The Advocate has since followed up for comment in July, just before publication, and Day has not responded.
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