CNN host Ashleigh Banfield has come to Aziz Ansari’s defence after the comedian was accused of sexual misconduct.

Over the weekend, Babe.net published an account from a Brooklyn photographer accusing Ansari, 34, of sexual assault.

In the piece, the accuser claimed that the “Master of None” star ignored numerous non-verbal “cues” indicating that she “wasn’t interested” in having sex; the accuser admitted that she willingly engaged in oral sex with the comedian afterwards. “Most of my discomfort was expressed in me pulling away and mumbling … I know I was physically giving off cues that I wasn’t interested,” the accuser, using the alias Grace, told the site. “I don’t think that was noticed at all, or if it was, it was ignored.”

She also claimed that Ansari chased her around his apartment, saying, “It was 30 minutes of me getting up and moving and him following and sticking his fingers down my throat again. It was really repetitive. It felt like a f — king game.”

Ansari responded to her claims with a statement Sunday, “It was true that everything did seem okay to me, so when I heard that it was not the case for her, I was surprised and concerned. I took her words to heart and responded privately after taking the time to process what she had said. I continue to support the movement that is happening in our culture. It is necessary and long overdue.”

Banfield, however, was less forgiving, and came out against Grace with guns blazing.

“You had a bad date. Your date got overly amorous. After protesting his moves, you did not get up and leave right away, you continued to engage in the sexual encounter. By your own clear description, this was not a rape, nor was it a sexual assault — by your description,” Banfield, 50, snapped on Monday.

“Your sexual encounter was unpleasant,” she added. “It did not send you to the police. It did not affect your workplace or your ability to get a job, so I have to ask you: What exactly was your beef? That you had a bad date with Aziz Ansari? Is that what victimised you to the point of seeking a public conviction and a career-ending sentence against him?”

Banfield then accused Grace of undermining the entire #MeToo movement.

“If you just had an unpleasant sexual experience, you should have gone home … But what you have done in my opinion is appalling,” Banfield said. “You went to the press with the story of a bad date, and you have potentially destroyed this man’s career over it right after he received an award for which he was worthy,” she added of his Golden Globe win for “Master of None.”

“You have chiselled away at a movement that I, along with all of my sisters in the workplace, have been dreaming of for decades, a movement that has finally changed an oversexed professional environment that I too have struggled with at times in my last 30 years in broadcasting,” she said. “If you’re lucky there’s a really good chance that you’re not going to experience the toxic work environment that the rest of us have endured, and that is because of the remarkable progress being made against the Harvey Weinsteins and the Kevin Spaceys of the world. The #MeToo movement has righted a lot of wrongs, and it has made your career path much smoother.”

She reiterated, “All of the gains that have been achieved on your behalf and mine are now being compromised with the allegations you threw out there, and I’m going to call them ‘reckless and hollow.’ I cannot name you publicly and sentence you to a similar career hit as Ansari, because you have chosen to remain anonymous. Lucky you. But as you grow in your photography career, I really do hope you remember what you did to someone else’s career all because of that bad date that was not sexual assault, that was not sexual harassment, by your description. And I hope that next time you go on a bad date, you stand up sooner, you smooth out your dress, and you bloody well leave, because the only sentence a guy like that deserves is a case of blue balls, not a Hollywood blackball.”

This story originally appeared on the New York Post and is republished here with permission.