Los Angeles, Jan 23 (IANS): Actor Joel McHale has defended fellow comedian and actor Aziz Ansari, who has been accused of sexual misconduct. He says the episode seems consensual to him.

Ansari failed to make an appearance at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday after being accused of "repeatedly cajoling" a woman into performing sex acts following a date.

McHale, 46, who is in Park City, Utah, for the Sundance Film Festival, came out in support of Ansari, reports dailymail.co.uk.

He told TMZ: "It sounds like it was consensual. The #MeToo movement is tremendous and is awesome and needs to continue forever. But if someone had a bad date, it's a bad date.

"People will read just the name and just the accusation and they don't find out anything more than that. That's the problem."

"Master of None" star Ansari has denied the allegations made against him by a 23-year-old woman who detailed her claims to women's website Babe.

After a date in New York, the unidentified woman claimed Ansari performed oral sex on her and then asked her to reciprocate, which she did. And he continued to be intimate with her, she said.

Ansari issued a firm denial, saying everything that happened that evening was consensual.