A day after TikTok star Hunter Ecimovic sparked disgust by saying he’d “groomed” 17-year-old actress Millie Bobby Brown, reps for the Stranger Things star are hitting back at his “hateful” comments.
“Mr. Ecimovic’s remarks on social media are not only dishonest, but also are irresponsible, offensive and hateful,” representatives for the actress said in a statement to The Daily Beast late Tuesday.
“Instead of engaging in a public discourse with him through the press or on social media, we are taking action to ensure that he stops this behavior once and for all,” the statement said.
It was not immediately clear what action Brown’s team had in mind, and they did not confirm or deny whether Brown was ever in a relationship with Ecimovic, who is known as Hunter Echo on TikTok.
Her representatives were not the only ones to express disgust with Ecimovic’s comments during an Instagram Live on Monday. The social media star made a series of crude comments about supposed sexual encounters with Brown, sparking a wave of condemnation and even a Change.org petition calling for his arrest on statutory rape charges. (By Tuesday evening the petition had only nine signatures.)
Ecimovic laughed with friends as he was confronted over rumors of a relationship with the British actress. Photos of the two purportedly taken together last year had circulated widely on social media, with observers pointing out that Brown was only 16 at the time —i.e., under the age of consent, which is 18 in California, where Ecimovic lives.
He is reportedly 21.
“Yeah, no I groomed her,” he said.
“Everything that I did was completely legal and it was approved by everybody that I was with,” Ecimovic said, before going on to make a series of lewd comments.
“She knew how to suck that dick,” he said at one point before laughing.
“I have nothing to apologize for, so make that clear. I have zero things to apologize for… I was living at Millie’s house for eight months… I thought her mum and dad knew about everything,” he said.
Brown has not yet commented on the controversy herself.