Scott Baio appeared on Good Morning America this morning to defend himself against Nicole Eggert's accusation that he molested her for years, starting when she was only 14, when they starred together on Charles in Charge.The interview was described as a "train-wreck" by the New York Daily News, as Baio stammered his way through several awkward answers to questions by Amy Robach.
Robach asked if his relationship with Eggert, who was 14 to his 26 when the show began filming, was "flirtatious" on the set, and he responded "Amy, I can tell you and I mean this sincerely, one of the most fun things I've ever done. Talented girl. We had a great time on the set. Everybody liked each other. Everybody got along."
He insisted that nothing could have happened on the set because there were always other people around and the set was "like a picnic every day" and repeated his argument that Eggert told Nik Richie during a 2013 radio interview that she lost her virginity to Baio after Charles in Charge was done, when she would have been 18. Robach read a statement from Nik Richie, in which he said that after that interview "She was an emotional wreck. She told me it was much worse than she described on air. She said, 'He molested me as a child and I didn't know any better.' I can vividly remember that statement. It's not one you would forget."
Robach also read statements from Alexander Polinsky, who played Eggert's younger brother on Charles in Charge and said he witnessed "inappropriate cuddling" between Baio and Eggert on the set and Adam Karl, who guested on one episode and said he recalled Eggert crying over her treatment by Baio.
When Robach asked Baio about Eggert's tweet in which she wrote "Ask Scott Baio what happened in his garage in his house when I was a minor. Creep.", Baio was at a loss for words, stammered, nervously laughed and threw his hands up in the air. "I have no idea what that means. I have no idea."Robach asked if he ever saw Eggert "off the set" and he seemed flustered, saying "Uh, off the set? I saw her in the, in the studio lot. Yeah, off the set."
Finally, Baio brought up the effect of the allegations on his career and family: “It's very important how this is affecting me, why somebody would come after me, my reputation and stop me from doing something that I love, what I've been doing since I'm nine years old. More important than that is my wife. I have a 10-year-old daughter. And my 10-year-old daughter does not need to be hearing about this from friends at school, these false allegations...Her job is to be 10 years old and that's why this has got to stop."
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