Craig McLachlan denies onstage ‘pash’

Craig McLachlan has denied “pashing” a co-star onstage against her will after footage from the Rocky Horror Show was played in court.

However, the actor conceded a re-enactment of the kiss for a Channel 7 documentary was different from the one that took place onstage.

Mr McLachlan is suing his former co-star Christie Whelan Browne, the ABC and Fairfax Media for defamation in the NSW Supreme Court.

The 56-year-old claims the media companies and Ms Whelan Browne defamed him by publishing stories in January 2018 that he says falsely portrayed him as having harassed and bullied female performers in the 2014 run of The Rocky Horror Show.

He denies the allegations.

On Friday the jury was shown two sets of videos relating to the onstage kiss during a performance in Perth in 2014.

One of the videos was from the actual performance, where McLachlan was seen kissing co-star Angela Scundi.

The other videos were drawn from raw material filmed during a 2021 Channel 7 documentary where McLachlan and his partner re-enacted the kiss to show how in his view, it would have been impossible for him to “stick his tongue down (the co-star‘s) throat”.

The raw footage shows McLachlan starting a metronome to indicate the timing of the musical number, striking a note on a piano to find the right key, and then singing and acting out the scene.

His partner Vanessa Scammell, pretending to be the co-star, is seen on her knees looking up at McLachlan while he holds her face with both hands.

The pair then share a quick “peck” before he continues singing.

However in the actual 2014 performance, McLachlan was seen sharing a longer kiss with Ms Scundi.

Defence barrister Michael Hodge QC, during cross-examination, asked the actor: “Do you agree with me that what you reconstructed with Ms Scammell was a momentary peck … and it was quite different to what you were performing (on stage)?”

“Yes it is,” McLachlan replied.

“The reason you claimed this was what it was like, was to suggest Ms Scundi‘s version was impossible?” the barrister asked.

“Yes,” the actor replied.

“And the claim it was a brief peck was a false claim, made for that purpose?”

“No,” McLachlan replied.