Game of Thrones star, Joseph Gatt has appeared in court on a charge of having sexually explicit contact online with a minor.
The 51-year-old British actor showed up at court in downtown LA on Monday, December 4, with his long-time girlfriend, actress and writer Mercy Malick.
LA Superior Court Judge Kim Nguyen ordered Gatt to be in court for a preliminary hearing she scheduled on December 18 when prosecutors are expected to present internet evidence allegedly found at Gatt's LA home. He remains free on $5,000 bail.
Gatt told DailyMail after Monday's brief hearing, 'I would love to talk about this but I have been advised by my attorney not to comment at this time.'
He was arrested in Los Angeles in April 2022 and his home was searched by police officers of the Juvenile Division, Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, armed with a search warrant.
He was charged with 'contact with a minor for sexual offense' and he also faces a second charge of felony possession of an assault weapon.
He pleaded not guilty to both charges at subsequent court appearances and, while he was granted the $5,000 bail, he was also ordered not to have unsupervised time with minors, not to have pornography, and not to use social media, except for work.
A week after his arrest, London-born Gatt who has lived in the U.S. for 18 years took to Twitter to vehemently deny the charges.
'I obviously want to address the absolutely horrifying and completely untrue allegations recently leveled against me,' he wrote. 'They are 100% categorically wrong and reckless.
'I am fully cooperating with police and LAPD to get to the bottom of this,' he continued.
'I look forward to clearing my good name. Thank you to all my friends and supporters who know that this is untrue and understand for legal reasons I cannot comment further on social media.'
His girlfriend, Mercy Malick, 51 also took to social media to slam the allegations, calling them 'beyond insane'.
'So much love to everyone who has already reached out in support of Joe and myself,' she wrote. 'Those who know us obviously know that the allegations leveled against him are insane
One of Gatt's most high-profile roles was playing Thenn Warg on the hugely popular HBO series Game Of Thrones.
His character was a member of the Thenn, a tribe of Free Folk known for their practices of ritual self-scarring and cannibalism.
After appearing in several episodes of season four in 2014, his character was killed off in the Battle of Castle Black.
