Mexican Director Fired After ‘HTGAWM’ Star Karla Souza Accused Him Of Rape

After “How to Get Away With Murder” star Karla Souza accused an unnamed Mexican director of rape, producer-director Gustavo Loza was promptly fired by Mexico’s largest television network, Televisa.

The network released a statement on Feb. 21 announcing that Loza is no longer connected with them, and they have cut ties with him and cancelled all of his projects, according to People.

“In the face of public accusations about the sexual abuse of actress Karla Souza, and after a preliminary investigation, Televisa has decided to immediately break off all relations with Mr. Gustavo Loza,” the statement read.

In response, Loza issued a statement on Twitter and said that he “profoundly and openly condemn(s)” the accusations made by Souza. After her confession, Loza even tried reaching out to the actress, but to no avail.

“I distance myself from any accusation against me by Televisa and Denise Maerker, who today have accused me without foundation regarding the case of the alleged violation denounced by Karla Souza," he wrote.

Souza shared her painful ordeal last Tuesday with CNN en Español. “I had just started my career, and they introduced me to all of these producers, and that’s where the manipulation began of ‘You owe me one,’” she said.

“So they start to put that in your head, they’ll tell you things like, ‘Oh, you know, I’m having to push for you. You haven’t made a name for yourself, but I know that you’re great. I know that you’re going to show me that you’re great,’” she continued. “I’m saying it like this but it’s all said in a very relaxing setting, but they’re little seeds that are red flags that back then I wasn’t educated on this to know what this person was doing. This is a very charismatic person, who has a great career.”

Souza said the director would even knock on her door at 2 a.m. just so they could go over lines. Sometimes, he just wanted to talk. Despite the red flags, Souza said she did not have the option to reject him. When she did, the director would hit back by treating her badly on set.

“He would insult me in front of the cast. This was his form of psychological control that he had with me. At the same time, he was charming and if I opened the door he was great with me. But he was very insistent and would even send me messages,” she shared. “After a month of his abuse and under his control, I sort of gave up and I let him kiss me and touch me in ways that I didn’t want him to.”

“In one of the instances, he violently attacked me, and yes, he raped me. I’m sorry it's hard for me,” she tearfully said.