INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

Vine Star Curtis Lepore On Trial For Alleged Rape Of Girlfriend, Another Vine Star

By Patricia Didelot
Published on: 01:53 PST, Jan 17, 2014

Vine star Curtis Lepore is on trial, accused of raping his Vine ex-girlfriend while he was supposed to be taking care of her.

TMZ is reporting that Lepore — who is a huge Vine star — was in court on Tuesday, where he faced rape charges from an incident that took place when he and ex Jessi Smiles met in person last year.

As background information — for those who are not familiar — Vine is a social media video sharing platform, similar to YouTube, very popular with young people, and with its own stars.

Curtis Lepore is one of the biggest of them all, but he finds himself in trouble with the law after his ex-girlfriend — who is another Vine star — accused him of raping her while she slept.

According to the report, the Vine celebrity was arrested last October and released on $100,000 bail.

Curtis Lepore and Jessi Smiles met through Vine and their first in-person meeting took place in NYC and was followed by thousands of fans, who kept up with their relationship as it grew before their eyes.

For those wondering why this matters, it really doesn’t, but Vine stars are the new YouTube stars, so people are talking about this.

In any case, Jess Smiles flew to Los Angeles in August 2013 to meet Curtis Lepore again, but things didn’t go well and they broke up.

A few days later, while filming a video, the Vine star suffered a concussion and Lepore offered to take care of her while she recovered from the injury, according to friends close to Smiles.

She alleges that Curtis Lepore raped her when she was sleeping. He pled not guilty to the charges during his court hearing.

The accusations have sparked a heated debate on Twitter as both Curtis Lepore and Jessi Smiles have thousands of followers.

Jessi herself posted a tweet that suggests she was talking about her Vine star ex, the day after the alleged rape happened:

Now the Vine star is thanking fans for their support — in a series of tweets — after the news of Curtis Lepore’s trial has become public:

Curtis Lepore has posted a video to Vine asking fans not to rush to judgement and promising to tell his side of the story.

“Things aren’t always what they seem. I am not allowed to talk about what’s going on right now. In the meantime, don’t rush to judge.”

[Image via Curtis Lepore/Twitter]

Share this article: Vine Star Curtis Lepore On Trial For Alleged Rape Of Girlfriend, Another Vine Star
More from Inquisitr