The Suicide Squad star, Joel Kinnaman, is under investigation for rape days after he was granted a restraining order against the alleged victim, Bella Davis. Kinnaman is a Swedish-American actor known for his role as Colonel Rick Flag in the 2016 Suicide Squad. He recently reprised his role as Flag for James Gunn’s sequel/reboot, The Suicide Squad, that opened up to positive reviews on August 6th.
Kinnaman’s return in The Suicide Squad presents him as one of the links between the 2016 and 2021 film. However, he has reiterated that The Suicide Squad’s Flag is very different from the 2016 film version, keeping in tune with Gunn’s essential reinventing of the film. Kinnaman has been a big advocate of Gunn and has consistently expressed praise and awe at his work on The Suicide Squad. However, the actor’s personal struggles may put a damper on the film’s success.
As reported by E! News, Kinnaman is under investigation for rape after being granted a temporary restraining order against the alleged victim. The investigation is ongoing and no decisions have been made thus far. The victim in the case is believed to be Davis, a Swedish model whom Kinnaman dated briefly in 2018. He recently filed for, and was granted, a temporary restraining order against Davis for extortion, alleging that the model threatened to make false claims about him to coerce him into giving her money. Kinnaman’s legal team suspects the rape allegation may be part of this extortion. Read Kinnaman’s lawyer’s statement below:
It appears that after learning of the restraining order, she filed her complaint. The court papers that Mr. Kinnaman filed stated, among other things, that Ms. Davis threatened to publicize false information about Mr. Kinnaman—including that he had sex with her against her will—unless he capitulated to her monetary and other demands, which included Hollywood introductions, a work visa sponsorship, a blue verification checkmark on Instagram, and more. Mr. Kinnaman will be cooperating with police to clear his name.
Kinnaman took to Instagram before the restraining order and rape investigation, revealing that the model had threatened to physically harm him and his loved ones, as well as threatened to publicize false rumors about him. The Suicide Squad star’s August 6th post also emphasized that one of the false rumors Davis threatened to make was that he raped her, thus, he provided a detailed timeline of the case. The trouble started in 2019 when Davis attempted to rekindle a past romance between them and Kinnaman ignored her attempts because he was in a relationship. The communications then became obsessive and frightening, eventually escalating to the extortion threats and threats of physical violence from Davis and her brother against Kinnaman and his family, leading the actor to file the emergency restraining order.
While the evidence against Davis is fairly damaging, the investigation is still ongoing and it remains to be seen what the final decision will be. All allegations of sexual abuse must be taken seriously and thoroughly investigated. However, Kinnaman’s situation does illustrate the rare but extremely damaging cases where a sexual abuse allegation is falsely given. Since campaigns like #MeToo have emerged, awareness for sexual assault has been rising, making it even more heinous when individuals attempt to drown out the voices of true victims with false allegations. As the investigation continues, hopefully the truth will come out and reveal where the guilt lies. If guilty, The Suicide Squad star must be held accountable for his actions, likewise, if it is a false allegation, Davis must be held accountable for stalking, extortion, and for harming sexual assault victims and campaigns with her false accusation.
Source: E! News
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