Comedian James Veitch, 40, is accused of sexual assault and rape by more than a dozen Sarah Lawrence alums while he was a graduate student over a decade ago

More than a dozen Sarah Lawrence alumni have accused British comedian James Veitch of sexual assault and rape during the time he attended the school as a graduate student over a decade ago. 

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a group of women who claim to be his former victims formed a network over Facebook to shares their stories. 

As a result of allegations, Veitch, 40, was dropped by his agency WME and HBO Max has pulled the rising star's special from its platform.  

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More than a dozen Sarah Lawrence alumni have accused British comedian James Veitch of sexual assault and rape during the time he was a graduate student over a decade ago

'We were deeply disturbed to learn of these allegations of unacceptable behavior by James Veitch and will be removing the special from our platform for now,' HBO Max told DailyMail.com. 

While not a household name, Veitch's fame was rising after his 2016 TED Talk 'The is What Happens When You Respond to Spam E-mail' went viral. It has since been viewed 55million times.  

He also appeared on the Conan O'Brien show in 2017 and O'Brien went on to serve as an executive producer on Veitch's HBO Max stand-up special. 

'Team Coco takes these allegations very seriously and supports HBO Max's decision,' a spokesperson for O'Brien's production company said. 

HBO Max, WME and Team Coco were first made aware of the allegations in August when two Sarah Lawrence alumni, Aston Hollins McClanahan and Jael Simonson-Tunic, emailed them detailing the claims. 

McClanahan alleges she had an encounter with Veitch in 2010, when she says she was forced to flee his apartment after he tried to rip her clothes off. 

Simonson-Tunic claims she witnessed him asking an undergraduate student playing a child to pretend she was having an orgasm while preparing for a 2009 production. 

The pair gathered the information on the claims from a Facebook group named 'James Veitch is a Piece of S***,' which was started by fellow comedian Kristen Gull back in 2017 after Veitch appeared on Conan. 

Gull told The Hollywood Reporter that she had been angered to see Veitch on the show, knowing her own experience with him when she was a freshman.  

She said that he had bought her a bottle of gin after she told him she wasn't old enough to drink and he made repeated attempts to kiss her. 

Gull claims that she was able to rebuff his advances but she had heard of other worse stories and wanted a space for women to share their accounts.  

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More than a dozen Sarah Lawrence alumni have made claims against Veitch

The group did not immediately gain much traction but was rekindled as the HBO special grew closer.  

'Our little network started bringing in stories left and right. In just that first couple of days, I think I got three stories of rape and two of assault,' Simonson-Tunic said. 

'What kept me going was my connection to these women — every woman that I talked to that first day I knew personally.'

Among the rape claims was one from a woman named Julie Tackett who wrote on the Facebook page that she was raped by Veitch in May 2008 when she was 20 years old. 

She said that she went to his apartment expecting a sexual encounter but that Veitch anally raped her. 

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Veitch, 40, was dropped by his agency WME and HBO Max has pulled the rising star's special from its platform

'I remember rushing to the bathroom: the dress was white, and I didn't want the blood to stain it on the train ride home,' she wrote. 

Tackett added that tried to convince herself there had been a misunderstanding. 

'I had flirted too much,' she said. 

'I had had too much to drink with dinner. I had said something I couldn't remember, which must have been the secret handshake that invited rape.' 

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a former boyfriend confirms Tackett told him several times over the course of years that Veitch had assaulted her. 

Anna Thorn claims she was also a 20-year-old when she tried to break off a relationship she was having with Veitch and agreed to stay with him one more night on the understanding they would not have sex. 

'He wheedled, he tried charm,' she wrote. 

'I turned my back and said no, clearly and repeatedly. Naively, I thought of 'no' as a sacrosanct, powerful word. … But he turned me around, pinned my hands, and pulled my underwear down. He shoved my legs open and physically forced me to have sex. It was painful and shocking. I screamed.' 

The Hollywood Reporter states they also confirmed with a friend that Thorn had previously told them about the alleged rape.

Another woman only named Hannah detailed a third alleged rape incident.  

'People peeled off from the group one by one until it was just me, James, and another woman from our class,' she wrote. 

'I was very, very drunk — blacking in and out — and remember James kissing this other woman and then pushing her head toward me to make us kiss. She pulled away, laughed, and left, told him to make sure I got home safe.'

Following this, she claimed Veitch gave her more wine. 

'The next thing I knew, he was on top of me, having sex with me, without a condom. I tried to push him off but I was too drunk to do anything meaningful. He finished and I stumbled out of there,' she said. 

'I was too embarrassed to tell anyone.' 

The women state that no sexual misconduct reports were made to the college but claim that Veitch was notorious on campus, with even a security guard commenting to one student 'Oh, that creep? I am so sick of his s**t'.

'It makes me mad at my college, that I love a lot,' Gull said of the school's alleged inaction. 

Sarah Lawrence confirmed with DailyMail.com that no allegations of sexual assault by Veitch were reported to the college. 

'The alleged misconduct outlined in the article is reprehensible and Sarah Lawrence is proud of its alumnae and their courage to come forward, and heartbroken to learn of reports of such terrible events​,' a spokesperson said.  

At the time of all the allegations, Veitch would have been a graduate student and close to 30.