Florence Pugh has spoken out about the alleged sexual assault of an unnamed woman by seven fraternity members at Cornell University, calling on men to speak up in a post that was censored by Instagram.
A civil lawsuit was filed on September 16 by the woman, named Jane Doe in the filing, which alleges that seven men from the Chi Phi fraternity chapter of the university drugged and raped her in 2024. The lawsuit includes a screengrab of a Snapchat message which purports to show one of the defendants inviting other members of the fraternity to engage in the assault.
BBC News reports that the claims have prompted New York state prosecutors to reopen a criminal inquiry into the allegations.
Florence Pugh calls out Instagram for blocking her post calling for seven Cornell fraternity members to be held accountable for sexual assault:
âGreat! Another lovely lesson to teach people that if you speak up about it, we will silence you! Good job I saved it. Iâll give it⌠pic.twitter.com/NFqUbmVh7h
— Buzzing Pop (@BuzzingPop) September 27, 2026
Marvel star Pugh initially shared an Instagram post saying she was âenragedâ by the news, and called upon men to speak up about abuse against women. âI know this has happened before, and I hate the idea of it happening again,â she wrote (via The Independent).
âThis is really the moment where we need our men to be as horrified and as sickened as us. You need to be leading conversations about how we change the allowance and complicity of this behaviour as much as we are. How can you expect us to trust that it’s ânot all menâ when in moments like this, many of you stay quiet?â
The post then appeared to be blocked by the social media platform, and at the time of writing is not visible on her profile page. Pugh shared a screengrab of the post being censored, with the caption: âInstagram decided to block my post from getting in front of the right people. Tut tut tut. Oh dear. That doesnât look great does it? Hereâs another go at it in case you were one of those people that can no longer see my post.â She also commented on the removal in several Instagram stories, which have been since shared online.
For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.
The post Florence Pugh urges men to speak up following Cornell rape allegations in censored Instagram post appeared first on NME.