‘English Teacher’ Accuser: I Went to Cops Over This Hit Show’s Star. It Still Got Renewed

FX on Friday confirmed the renewal of its breakout hit comedy English Teacher for a second season. The show—which, as its title suggests, centers on a high school English teacher, his colleagues and his students—has made a mainstream star of its lead actor, and creator, Brian Jordan Alvarez.

It also brought to public light a series of sexual assault allegations—including non-consensual sex acts, sexual touching and sexual coercion—leveled against Alvarez, 37, by his former friend and collaborator Jon Ebeling.

Ebeling, 36, told the Daily Beast he is “heartbroken and devastated” at the renewal news.

“I’m in fear for the people who have to work with Brian and continue to work with Brian,” Ebeling added.

English Teacher‘s first season had three nominations at this Friday night’s Critics Choice Awards, including Best Comedy Series and Best Actor in a Comedy Series for Alvarez.

Despite its positive reception, however, FX appeared to wait a beat before announcing its second season, following an explosive exposé of Ebeling’s allegations published last December in New York Magazine‘s Vulture.

Ebeling alleges that Alvarez assaulted him while filming the 2016 web series The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo. The five-part series, which satirized the sex lives of a group of inevitably-messy millennials, became a cult classic and the basis for many a popular meme. (It also featured Stephanie Koenig, now Alvarez’s co-star in English Teacher and then Ebeling’s real-life girlfriend.)

The two actors were shooting a scene in which Alvarez’s character gave oral sex to Ebeling’s. Ebeling alleges, that, under a blanket, Alvarez performed the sex act for real. “I didn’t know what to do. I’m on set with my director, who is assaulting me. It was a horrible feeling,” he recalled thinking at the time in the Vulture piece.

Alvarez has publicly denied the allegations and says sexual interactions with Ebeling were “always entirely consensual,” as his spokesperson told the Daily Beast in December. “Indeed, in 2018, two years after this alleged incident, Mr. Ebeling himself unambiguously said as much on tape,” the statement continued, referring to a recording that Ebeling has said was made without his knowledge.

It’s been five years since Ebeling has had any contact with Alvarez, who he says made no attempts to contact him after he made his allegations.

Ebeling went public with his allegations on social media about a month before English Teacher premiered last fall, with an Instagram post that drew parallels with the grooming and sexual assault plot line in the Netflix hit Baby Reindeer.

According to Vulture, the day before the show premiered, Ebeling filed a police report about the alleged on-set assault and reported Alvarez to the Screen Actors Guild. An FX spokesperson told the Daily Beast in December, “We reviewed the allegations presented to us by another media outlet prior to the show’s launch,” adding that “Mr. Ebeling never reached out to us with any concerns.”

FX declined to comment further on the allegations after picking up the series for a second season on Friday.

Ebeling highlights several “off the record” accusers featured in the Vulture story—one of whom claimed he had to take out a “no contact” order against Alvarez, and another who alleged Alvarez “groped his groin” when they were students at USC—and claims to have heard from more individuals still. He told the Beast he believes other accusers have decided not come forward because of “the stigma,” where “men don’t ever want to admit that they’re assaulted or even taken advantage of.”

Also, he added, “There’s a huge fear of people not being believed.”

Alvarez told Vulture through his lawyer that he has “no recollection” of groping anyone, but admitted to “harassing” another student while in college (which he attributed to alcoholism, revealing that he had been sober since 2010). He added that he “recognizes that, when under the influence, his behavior could often be insensitive and damaging” and that he has “apologized often to those he might have hurt and has always been deeply grateful for their apparent understanding and forgiveness.”

The Daily Beast has also reached out to Alvarez for comment but did not receive a response before publication.

Ebeling said he was “prepared” for English Teacher to get a second season, which he described as the “worst case scenario.” He added, however, “I would be lying if I didn’t say that it took the wind out of me this morning” to see the news of its renewal.

“I honestly had more faith in FX before this,” Ebeling continued. “The way they handled this is just, I think, unforgivable.”