A prominent Broadway costume designer is accused of sexual abuse

Court Watson recalls hearing once that William Ivey Long was "a tornado made of chiffon." How lucky was he, Watson thought, as just a college student, to have the chance to learn from the very best in the business — a true legend in Broadway costume design.

Here was a man who created the indelible looks for a generation of theater shows: The sultry, sexy look of Chicago, with all those fishnets and silky black garments cut up to there. The bubble-gum brightness of Hairspray, with its teen dreaminess and feather-trimmed frocks. Most recently, a re-creation of iconic outfits worn by the Princess of Wales: a meringue-like wedding dress, floppy bow ties and power shoulder pads for Diana: The Musical. The show is having a splashy rebirth as Broadway tries to emerge from the pandemic: It began streaming on Netflix on Oct. 1 and and will have its opening night in New York this Wednesday, Nov. 17.

But Watson and another man named Michael Martin say that while they were under Long's tutelage — working as college students at a summer production in North Carolina called The Lost Colony, a show with an outsize influence within the American theater community — Long sexually abused them both.

Additionally, NPR has unearthed a 2002 lawsuit and related materials against The Lost Colony, filed by a former employee, that includes several other serious allegations of sexual misconduct against Long. Some of those accusations have impacted Long's most recent work: He and the Diana team parted ways last year, not long before the musical was filmed.

Watson says that Long had sex with him while Watson was drunk and could not consent. Martin, who first came forward publicly in 2018, alleges that Long touched him inappropriately on about 10 occasions. The accusations in the lawsuit include Long allegedly compelling one young man to have sex with another at Long's direction while a board member watched, and forcing the man to allow Long to perform oral sex on him.

In a lengthy statement to NPR prepared by his lawyer, Pearl Zuchlewski, Long "emphatically denies" both Martin and Watson's allegations. He also says that he did not know about the 2002 suit until the summer of 2020, but that those accusations are also false.

While Watson's and Martin's allegations go back about two decades, they each say that the climate of #MeToo over the past few years has changed the conversation around sexual misconduct and power dynamics, and propelled them to come forward. They both also say that the atmosphere at The Lost Colony was one in which they felt they couldn't assert themselves — and that Long was so revered there that there was no point in trying.

Moreover, they believe that Broadway (and theater overall) hasn't really grappled with how to ensure the safety of performers, artists and workers, despite some very public reckonings in the film and television world.

A friend to the stars, from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis to Anna Wintour

William Ivey Long moves in rarified — and powerful — circles. Between 2012 and 2016, he was the chairman of the American Theatre Wing, the organization that gives out the Tony Awards. During his time leading ATW, he coaxed Anna Wintour to the Tonys — like Kendall Jenner and Emily Ratajkowski. For a certain generation of New York socialites, Long has been a staple presence; he was a confidante of Jacqueline Onassis. His joyous, fanciful creations have also been seen on and .