Hercules actor Kevin Sorbo says Gianni Versace sexually harassed him

Hercules star Kevin Sorbo says Gianni Versace sexually harassed him while he was working as a model in the 1990s. Photo / Getty

Actor Kevin Sorbo says he was sexually harassed by the late Italian designer Gianni Versace.

Sorbo, known for playing Hercules in the television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, told comedian Adam Corolla on his podcast that the designer touched him without consent while he was working as a model in the early 1990s.

"I've got my sexual harassment story," Sorbo said. "[Versace] wanted to meet me because of my height. At 6'3, he wanted me to do fashion shows with these... tall women."

Sorbo said on one occasion, he showed up to what he thought was a dinner party to discover only Versace was there.

"All of a sudden, his hand goes up my leg," Sorbo said. "[I said], 'Dude, you know I'm straight?'

Sorbo told Corolla that Versace said: "'This is why I like you. You're not a girlie man. You are a man's man."

"'In life, you must f**k everything," Sorbo said Versace told him. "'You must do the dog, and the cat, and the boy, and the girl.'"

Gianni Versace in 1994. Photo / Getty

Sorbo later told the Hollywood Reporter that he maintained a friendship with Versace.

"He booked me for his fashion shows but I never got his campaign, but I knew the game, just like I know the game of Hollywood," Sorbo said. "Casting couches have always been around. I don't play that game, nor do I care to."

Versace was shot to death at his Miami Beach home in 1997. His death is the subject of the upcoming second season of Ryan Murphy's anthology series American Crime Story, in which he will be played by Edgar Ramirez.