Avram Grant faces sexual harassment charge
Former Chelsea manager Avram Grant has been accused of sexual harassment by multiple women in an investigation broadcast on Israeli television.
Grant, 66, who also coached Portsmouth, West Ham and the Israel national team, was accused of using his prominent position to try to coerce various women into having sex.
As reported by The times of Israel, Israeli research show Exposure presented nearly an hour’s worth of testimonials from various women, describing Grant as a “man who offered to advance young women’s careers in exchange for sex, pressuring them until they gave in.”
In addition, several women claimed that Grant made sexual comments to them while dealing with them in a professional capacity, and they also claimed that his behavior was an open secret in the industry.
One woman claimed she was invited to Grant’s Tel Aviv apartment in June 2020 with an offer to help her find work, before reportedly asking her to take off her clothes and refusing to let her leave.
The woman, then 22, said: ‘He said to me, ‘Get comfortable, take off your clothes’. I thought he was kidding. I sat far away from him, on the edge of the couch. He asked me to come closer and tried to hug me, really grabbed me and wouldn’t let go.
“I felt uncomfortable, he put his hand on my thigh and I remember moving his hand right away. After a few seconds of talking he grabbed my neck as if choking me, turned my head towards him and tried to kiss me forcibly.’
On the program, hosted by male journalist Haim Etgar, the woman said she “didn’t have the courage to say no to him” when he pressured her to stay overnight before Grant took her hand and put it on his crotch. and she then went to the bathroom and started to cry.
She later woke up after sleeping in a separate bedroom with Grant allegedly holding his exposed penis above her head.
She claims she later confronted him about his actions and played Grant’s voice memos when he initially appeared to acknowledge what he was accused of, but then painted the evening as assent.
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He is then said to have said: ‘I don’t discuss my private affairs with anyone, what I’ve done to you or what I’m doing to anyone else.’
Several women claimed Grant offered to help them early in their careers before making inappropriate comments and harassing messages over a number of years.
Many of the witnesses were well-known journalists whose voices had been manipulated and identities hidden because they feared the consequences if their identities were made public
Grant did not deny the charges and insisted the damage he caused was unintentional, also apologizing “from the bottom of my heart.”