Seal denies accusations of forcibly kissing and groping woman in his home

The pop and soul singer Seal has vehemently denied an allegation that he groped a woman visiting his Los Angeles home in 2016.

Tracey Birdsall, an actor who lives nearby to the singer in Los Angeles, told the entertainment news site TMZ that the pair initially became friends. After going to Seal’s house to retrieve a salad spinner he had borrowed, Birdsall says he began to forcibly kiss and grope her, in his kitchen and then again on a sofa, despite her demands that he stop. She then left the house and broke off all contact with him.

A statement from his publicist said that Seal “vehemently denies” the accusations and “intends to vigorously defend himself” against them.

Birdsall says she was moved to make the accusations after Seal himself called on women to share stories of sexual harassment, in a Facebook video on 12 January. “To all of you who have been raped and sexually abused, I applaud you for coming forward,” he said. “What you did takes real courage, and please keep showing that courage and please keep coming forward, because that’s the only way we get to solve this thing – we talk about it, we open dialogue, we solve it.

“Not one of the women who have come forward have received any real justice whatsoever,” he lamented, adding that the perpetrators losing their jobs was “not real punishment”.

The video was his response to an outcry after he posted a meme image that pictured Oprah Winfrey giving the disgraced Harvey Weinstein a friendly kiss, and which suggested she was “part of the problem”. He said that “this was not an attack against Oprah, this was an observation of the toxic nature of Hollywood”.

Seal has sold millions of albums worldwide, thanks to hits including Kiss From a Rose, Crazy and Killer. He released his most recent album Standards, a collection of jazz, swing and big band numbers, in November 2017.