‘Game of Thrones’ actor Joseph Gatt sues LA, DA Gascón for $40M over false pedophile charges
Actor Joseph Gatt, best known for his role in “Game of Thrones,” slapped the city of Los Angeles and woke LA County District Attorney George Gascón with a lawsuit over dismissed pedophile charges from a 2022 arrest.
Advertisement
Gatt, 52, is seeking $40 million in damages after he was charged with engaging in “online sexually explicit communication with a minor across state lines” in a now-dismissed suit.
In court documents filed in federal court in California on Thursday, Gatt claims the defendants “publicly branded him as a serial pedophile,” which had a negative knock-on effect on his career.
“Gatt was immediately cancelled and what had previously been a burgeoning acting career was destroyed,” the lawsuit alleges.
“Gatt’s agent and PR representatives dropped him immediately, he was fired from two different movies in which he had already been cast, and he was also recast in a third movie in which he had been hired to play the lead role.”
The “Thor” actor also alleges Deputy District Attorney Angela Brunson held “personal bias and animosity” towards him — claiming she tried to “suborn perjury” to have Gatt’s $5,000 bail revoked.
“The arrest and charges against Mr. Gatt — for which he was branded by the Los Angeles DA and LAPD as a serial pedophile — were based on fabricated evidence,” Dean Z. Pamphilis, a partner with Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP, told The Post in a statement.
“Twenty months later, when the fabricated evidence was finally disclosed to Mr. Gatt and Mr. Gatt’s forensic expert were prepared to expose the truth in open court, the Los Angeles DA voluntarily dismissed the criminal complaint,” the statement continued.
“Mr. Gatt, however, had already lost his community, his acting career, and his personal reputation. We look forward to recovering Mr. Gatt’s enormous losses in court.”
The Post has reached out to Gatt’s reps for comment.
Gatt was arrested in April 2022 after he was accused of allegedly engaging in a sexually explicit online exchange with a minor in another state.
The lawsuit claims that Gatt recorded a Cameo video for the fan’s 16th birthday, and months later, the teen contacted the actor via Instagram a few times.
Gatt “responded in a manner that was wholly appropriate and consistent with typical celebrity-fan exchanges,” the suit states, adding that the pair never met in person.
The suit claims that the defendants failed to “interview or even remotely assess for credibility” until a year after the actor’s arrest.
In April 2022, the Los Angeles Police Department served a search warrant at Gatt’s LA home and arrested the “Banshee” actor, per an LAPD press release.
Gatt was taken into custody and booked with an outstanding felony warrant for contact with a minor for sexual offense. He was released on $5,000 bail.
At the time, the actor rushed to social media to deny the allegations against him.
“I obviously want to address the absolutely horrifying and complete untrue allegations recently leveled against me,” he wrote on X.
“They are 100% categorically wrong and reckless. I have confirmed errors and misleading information in today’s press release. I am fully cooperating with police and LAPD to get to the bottom of this. I look forward to clearing my good name.”
“Thank you to all of my friends and supporters who know that this is untrue and understand for legal reasons I cannot comment further on social media,” he added.
The actor, who famously portrayed Thenn Warg on the HBO series “Game of Thrones,” also appeared in “Titanic 666” and “Black Adam.”
