{"id":78723,"date":"2025-08-19T22:05:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T22:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/78723\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T22:05:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T22:05:11","slug":"kevin-costner-calls-horizon-sexual-harassment-claims-false","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/78723\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin Costner Calls ‘Horizon’ Sexual Harassment Claims False"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tKevin Costner<\/a>\u2019s lawyer has already called out the sex harassment lawsuit from Horizon II stunt performer Devyn LaBella as a \u201cshakedown,\u201d and now, seeking to get the case dismissed, the Oscar winner himself is apparently going a step further.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a declaration <\/a>filed Monday in L.A. Superior Court, Costner insists the May-filed claims of LaBella <\/a>suffering through a rape scene on the yet unreleased Western sequel are a \u201cbold-faced lie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn fact, the former Yellowstone<\/a> star, who put a lot of his own fortune in the Horizon series, says the suit is intended as an attack on him personally. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMy belief is that Devyn\u2019s claims were designed, through the use of false\u00a0statements and sensationalistic language, to damage my reputation,\u201d Costner says in a dense and photo rich (see above, below and the document itself) declaration that\u2019s an attachment to a motion to strike of August 18. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\tActionwise, Costner and his Lavely & Singer attorneys are seeking a September 18 hearing in DTLA to either have the case axed or at least get most of it kneecapped under anti-SLAPP statute.<\/p>\n

\n\tA self-described \u201clead stunt double for the series\u2019 lead actor\u00a0Ella Hunt<\/a>,\u201d LaBella filed her initial case against Costner and the production on May 27, 2025 in LASC.<\/p>\n

\n\tFollowing a late 2024 filing with the California Civil Rights department,\u00a0the SAG-AFTRA member and seasoned pro claims in her graphic LASC complaint that \u201con may (sic) 2, 2023, plaintiff Devyn LaBella, a female stunt performer, was the victim of a violent unscripted, unscheduled rape scene directed by Kevin Costner (\u2018Mr. Costner\u2019), owner, chief Executive officer and Secretary of Horizon Series, Inc.\u201d Spotlighting Guild violations on on-set protocols, LaBella\u2019s sexual harassment, sexual discrimination and retaliation filing adds: \u201cThe impact of this impromptu work demand on Ms. Labella has been profound, not only upending a career Ms. Labella spent years building but leaving her with permanent trauma that she will be required to address for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs well as unspecified damages, LaBella wants the court to order that an intimacy coordinator be on set of Costner\u2019s \u201cfuture\u201d films. She also wants the defendants, of which Costner is one, to \u201csubmit to anti-sexual harassment and anti-sexual violence training provided by a reputable organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt might be noted that intimacy coordinator\u00a0Celeste Chaney,\u00a0who worked on Horizon, has backed LaBella and called the incident an \u201cunscheduled, unplanned violent rape scene\u201d that \u201cwas unexpectedly sprung on the actors and stunt professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn an exhibit included with LaBella\u2019s amended complaint of June 18,<\/a> Chaney said that beside the problem of there not being an intimacy coordinator present for the scene, other issues were that it should have been a red flag that Hunt allegedly refused to participate and that LaBella \u201cis a stunt professional, not a body double.\u201d Chaney added LaBella \u201cdid not consent to the action that was directed once she was in place\u201d; and \u201cshe did not have the appropriate modesty garments to ensure adequate coverage, safety, or protection.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCostner and his team pay Chaney\u2019s POV little heed in their filings this week. <\/p>\n

\n\tOpening with a gratitude gushing text from LaBella to \u201cher supervisor\u201d just over a week after the May 23, 2023 alleged rape scene was filmed, a lengthy memorandum accompanying Monday\u2019s motion to strike<\/a> goes straight for the jugular. \u201cThe reality, as supported by the sworn testimony of a dozen respected, veteran film crew members with personal knowledge of the facts at issue in this dispute, real-time photographs of the shot in question, and LaBella\u2019s own words at the time, is that LaBella\u2019s opportunistic and salacious lawsuit is just as fictional as the motion picture at the center of this dispute,\u201d the 15-page paperwork over Marty Singer<\/a>\u2018s signature asserts.<\/p>\n

\n\tCostner\u2019s declaration doesn\u2019t leave much to the imagination either. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDevyn\u2019s claims against me are absolutely false, and it is deeply disappointing to me that a woman who worked on our production would claim that I or any other member of my production team would make one of our own feel uncomfortable, let alone suffer the \u201cnightmare\u201d she has invented,\u201d Costner says. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThese allegations are so patently false I can only assume that the purpose was to use this sensationalistic language to embarrass and damage me and the Horizon movies on an ongoing basis in order to gain a massive and unjustified payday,\u201d the WME<\/a>-repped JKF alum adds. \u201cEqually as bad, having to read about and address allegations I know to be false involving the words \u2018rape\u2019 and \u2018assault\u2019 has been an absolute nightmare. The truth matters. That\u2019s why, even at the high cost of this lawsuit (financial and personal), I will always speak up to defend myself and my crew against false allegations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHorizon: An American Saga<\/a> \u2013 Chapter 1, the first flick in Costner\u2019s planned series, premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival but faltered upon release last summer by Warner Bros. with just $38.7 million in worldwide box office. <\/p>\n

\n\tHorizon II debuted at last year\u2019s Venice Film Festival. However, an August 2024 release date was canceled and the film has yet to come out. According to Costner\u2019s declaration of this week, \u201cwe have not begun principal photography on Horizon III.\u201c<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Kevin<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tKevin Costner in HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA \u2013 CHAPTER 1<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWarner Bros. \/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kevin Costner\u2019s lawyer has already called out the sex harassment lawsuit from Horizon II stunt performer Devyn LaBella…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78724,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,40108,96,40109,22725,40110,56,54,55,20318,1482],"class_list":["post-78723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-ella-hunt","tag-entertainment","tag-horizon-an-american-saga","tag-kevin-costner","tag-marty-singer","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wme","tag-yellowstone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}