Former assistant sues Vin Diesel for sexual battery
The accuser says she stayed quiet until now because she signed a nondisclosure agreement with Diesel's One Race company
Aux News Vin Diesel
[The following contains descriptions of alleged sexual assault.]
Asta Jonasson, a woman hired by Vin Diesel’s production company One Race in 2010 to work as an assistant for the actor during the production of Fast Five, has filed a lawsuit against Diesel for alleged sexual battery. That comes from Vanity Fair, which says that Jonasson stayed quiet about her accusations until now because she had signed a preemptive nondisclosure agreement when she took the job with One Race, but due to new legal options in California—including the Speak Out Act, which prevents the enforcement of NDAs in cases of sexual assault—she decided to “reclaim her agency and justice for the suffering she endured at the hands of Vin Diesel and One Race.”
Vanity Fair has the details of Jonasson’s accusations from the lawsuit, but it includes a claim that Jonasson was told to wait in Diesel’s hotel room one night in September of 2010 while he “entertained hostesses he had brought back from a club.” Once they were gone and Diesel was alone with Jonasson, she says he grabbed her wrists and forced her onto the bed. When she asked him to stop and got free, she waited by the door for him to leave.
At that point, she alleges, he started to grab her again despite her continuing to ask him to stop. According to the suit, she was concerned about “more forcibly” asking him to stop, since he was her boss and she just wanted him to leave the room, but then he allegedly “dropped to his knees, pushed Ms. Jonasson’s dress up toward her waist, and molested her body, running his hands over Ms. Jonasson’s upper legs, including her inner thighs.”
When Diesel allegedly tried to pull down her underwear, she screamed and ran to the bathroom, at which point he grabbed her again and forced her to touch him, “even as she verbally refused.” She then “closed her eyes, trying to dissociate from the sexual assault and avoid angering him.” The suit then says that Jonasson was fired from her position “hours later” by Diesel’s sister, Samantha Vincent, with Jonasson saying that she believed she was being fired “because she was no longer useful” after Diesel allegedly “used her to fulfill his sexual desires” and because she had “resisted his sexual assaults.”
The suit accuses Diesel and One Race of discrimination on the basis of sex, intentional infliction of emotional distress, hostile work environment, wrongful termination, and retaliation, as well as allegedly attempting to cover up the accusations and of causing Jonasson to suffer “humiliation, emotional distress, and mental and physical pain and anguish.”
Niether Diesel nor One Race have yet to publicly acknowledge the accusations.
64 Comments
…calling your production shingle ‘One Race’ doesn’t really seem like a good idea.
My artisanal correction fluid business, White Power, is going swimmingly.
So’s my jewelry store, Kay Kay Kay.
My carpet cleaning business, Kill Anyone Not Like Me, is not seeing many requests for service either. Weird.
Do people still use correction fluid?
Swimming in it might be the only use left for it.
My nocturnal grylloidea business is . . . never mind.
Congratulations on your healthy white swimmers.Do you need a hand?
I live my live a quarter race at a time.
*one drop at a time
There’s a joke in there that no one should make.
A joke?
Well, he was born a with a perfectly cromulent name like “Mark Sinclair,” yet he decided to go by the very stupid “Vin Diesel.”
What’s so bad about “Vin Diesel”?
what a candy-ass
Not relevant to the allegations but I am completely wtf at that name
In the first Fast and Furious, didn’t they keep using the term ‘race war’ in reference to drag racing?
The early ‘Fast & Furious’ films featured a competition called Race Wars, so it’s kind of on brand.
That doesn’t make this better.
no. really?
Presumably it’s a Fast and/or Furious reference but, yeah…um…yeah.
Why did NDAs ever cover criminal behavior…
Because money
Because if they didn’t, 90% of them would be pointless.
I thought most (at least non-celebrity related) NDAs cover things like trade secrets, proprietary information, etc. Pretty much a notch below a non-compete agreement
the real question we need to ask
I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a stipulation in her NDA, but I would be very surprised if it was actually enforced in a court of law (or even brought to suit). They probably add bullshit like that as a bullying tactic in the hopes that people won’t even dare considering testing the limits of their NDAs, but I don’t think any contract is going to provide you cover from illegal behavior. I’m kind of curious how the Speak Out Act made a difference in this regard. Someone DM Popehat.
yeah, I don’t know the exact legal phrasing, but isn’t a contract that violates anyones’ civil rights automatically null & void? I feel like that should apply to NDAs’es.
They don’t, really. Like you can write whatever you want in there, but provisions covering illegal activity are unenforceable. Ultimately, MOST NDAs are at least partially based around intimidation and bluffing, and the majority overstate the scope of what they can actually cover.
Life is tough. Wear a helmet.
Doing this to a woman, the guy who sends gaydars into the red at every turn. It is after all about power. A dude would kick his ass.
Huh he never set of any radar to me. The man is so profoundly unsexy in a macho ken doll sort of way I’m surprised he could set of any radars gay or straight.
I have never understood his appeal. He looks like a potato and sounds like he has a sinus affection.
Niether Diesel nor One Race have yet to publicly acknowledge the accusations.I just got a response from Diesel himself, but I can’t understand a word he’s saying.
Something, something, its all about fambly.
The response I heard just said that he was Groot.
A joke about family.
I’m too tired to write it.
I am very, very progressive, but maybe the Republicans have it right. Maybe men should just hire and work around other men and not hire women.The risks far outweigh any benefit. Any woman, at any time, can ruin your life. Who knows if this is true, but Vin Diesel basically is over now.If you are a famous guy, it is better to basically hire all guys to work with and hire prostitutes to meet your needs. Otherwise, you have to live in fear of the women around you.
Huh? If you’re referring to false accusations, then anyone of any gender can do that. Any person, at any time, can ruin your life.
If you’re referring to legit accusations, then the solution is for people not to assault each other. You got little to fear if you treat people decently.
Any person, at any time, can ruin your life…so just be alone…forever.
There are days..
If you’re a famous guy, it is best to be a standup person, follow the laws of the country you’re in as well as rules of basic decency, and treat everyone who works for you with professionalism. Really don’t understand why people feel the need to stick up for people fortunate enough to make millions to act or play sports who can’t do those things.
Over? This is just the beginning. He can run for president now.
Perhaps, wildly, men could just stop being fucking slimeballs.
What the fuck are you babbling about, you strange person?
I am very, very progressive
To be fair, I checked his comment history earlier and he does have at least one anti-trump/capitol riot comment. It’s easy to believe all the misogynists are on the right, but that is not the case.
You are either completely full of shit and aren’t even remotely progressive, or you are the dumbest and shittiest progressive on the planet. Either way, however, you are objectively an aggressively stupid and ignorant dumbf**k and massive POS.
Congrats on being the single dumbest and most ignorant POS moron I have ever seen in these comments. The fact that your reaction to this is “poor Vin Diesel” and “women are bad and can ruin men’s lives” is amazingly pathetic and amazingly ignorant. You, sir, are a worthless dumbf**k.
Instead of going all incel, Republican, and hanging around prostitutes, how about just following the rules of basic decency towards women, as well as the law, and don’t try to force them into doing things they don’t want to do?
Well there’s an incel for you.
I don’t think you know what you are even saying.
Every man who does that is admitting he’s a rapist and/or he believes all women are liars. Both should permanently disqualify him from running for any office on any political stage. So which are you?
By “very, very progressive,” you mean what exactly?
Buddy if fucking Mel Gibson won’t stay cancelled, then Vin Diesel will be fine, even if the allegations are true
Congratulations on your nomination for “Dumbest Comment of the Year”. You might be a last-minute entry but are a really strong contender.
I’d rather be accused of rape than raped.
Please stop murdering sex workers.
I know that plenty of others are already dunking on you for this post, but do you seriously think that a man can’t sexually harass or assault another man? Someone with a mindset to use their power over someone else for sexual gratification doesn’t limit themselves to the opposite gender.
You only have to live in fear if you’re a bad man, you rapist cunt.
“I am Grope.”
I just finished watching the fast and farious movies and honestly really enjoyed them. By the end it was that Vin Diesel is really a terrible actor, but there was something incredibly charming about him and those movies. And now that’s all over. Fucking men.
Won’t watch the F&F flicks because I dislike the genre, but I’ve been a real fan of his other projects. Really interesting stuff: Riddick, Babylon AD, Triple X, The Last Witch Hunter, etc. This is disappointing. I remind others not to confuse movie characters with the actors playing them but I’m guilty this time.
This entire story reads like massive bs.