Gay, Lesbian Center Gets $10,000 as Part of Sentence
The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center received a $10,000 check from actor Wallace Langham on Friday as part of his sentence for attacking a gay Hollywood Hills man in a Bristol Farms store last September.
City Atty. Jim Hahn presented the check to the group’s Safe Haven project.
Langham, who plays a secretly gay character on the sitcom “Veronica’s Closet,” pleaded no contest March 17 to a battery charge stemming from the attack. The actor was charged after shouting slurs about the man’s sexual orientation, then attacking him in the store at 7880 Sunset Blvd., a city attorney spokesman said.
But Langham’s spokeswoman, Hayley Sumner, insisted the fight had nothing to do with the victim being gay. Instead, it started after the man made comments to Langham’s girlfriend about her tattoos, she said.
Langham was ordered to perform 450 hours of community service at three gay and lesbian charities and to donate $10,000 to the center, a sentence Sumner said was “incredibly harsh given the circumstances.”
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Abraham Kahn ordered Langham to pay an additional $5,400 to cover the victim’s medical bills and court costs.
The actor’s attorney, Harland Braun, could not be reached for comment.
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