LOS ANGELES – An exotic dancer who performed for Duke University lacrosse players the night of the alleged rape of a fellow dancer said in an interview the students behaved drunkenly, shouted racial epithets and made her feel unsafe.
In an interview published in the new issue of Vanity Fair magazine, dancer Kim Roberts also said she did not know if the other dancer, an unnamed 27-year-old black woman, was raped but did know the woman was in such poor shape when they left that Roberts had to call police for help.
Roberts said the woman was “like intoxicated, drunk or something. … She’s barely talking.”
The woman was taken first by police to an alcohol treatment facility and then transferred to a hospital emergency room where she was found to have injuries compatible to being raped and sexually assaulted.
Three members of the lacrosse team have been charged with rape in a case that has received national attention. All three have denied committing any crime.
Roberts told Vanity Fair contributing editor Buzz Bissinger she was originally told she would be performing at a bachelor party, where she assumed the men would be close to 30 or a little older. But when she arrived she realized the crowd was all younger men, some so drunk they were urinating off the porch of the house.
When they learned that the second dancer coming was black, some objected because they wanted a white dancer, she said. But the two dancers nonetheless danced for about eight minutes until a young man waved a broomstick in the air and made crude comments.
She said she felt overwhelmed and intimidated. “You have to think of two little girls among how many big boys? That in and of itself is intimidating. …
“How is someone supposed to perform a show if they’re wondering …. ‘Am I going to have to worry about my safety?’ Things were said that made me concerned for my safety.”
She added that when she and the other dancer left, the players shouted racial slurs.