Instead being lumped in with others who are accused of sexual misconduct, Woody Allen argues he should be the poster boy of the MeToo movement.
In an interview with Periodismo Para Todos in Argentina, the director has denied yet again accusations that he sexually abused Dylan Farrow, his daughter, when she was only seven years old. Such allegations have hounded Allen for years, and he has consistently denied them.
"This is something that has been thoroughly looked at 25 years ago by all the authorities and everybody came to the conclusion that it was untrue," said Allen. "For it to come back now, it's a terrible thing to accuse a person of. I'm a man with a family and my own children."
Woody Allen Sexual Abuse Allegations
Farrow talked openly about her sexual assault via Vanity Fair in 2013 and in an open letter published in The New York Times the following year. In a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter in 2016, Farrow's brother Ronan — who recently won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on Harvey Weinstein's numerous sexual improprieties — expressed support for his sister, saying he believed Farrow's claims against their father.
"I believe my sister. This was always true as a brother who trusted her, and, even at 5 years old, was troubled by our father's strange behavior around her: climbing into her bed in the middle of the night, forcing her to suck his thumb — behavior that had prompted him to enter into therapy focused on his inappropriate conduct with children prior to the allegations."
The MeToo Movement
Further in the Periodismo Para Todos interview, Allen talked about the MeToo movement, spurred by nearly every woman in Hollywood who has had enough of men in power and position who sexually abuse them.
Allen said it's a good thing that people are bringing "these terrible harassers" to light, but that he's bothered he gets linked with them.
Ronan's reporting was key to the MeToo movement and another one called TimesUp. Once he blew the lid off Weinstein's various alleged sex crimes, many women slowly opened up about their own experiences. An outpouring of stories followed shortly thereafter, revealing a toxic and nasty underside to Hollywood's shiny and glamourous facade.
Allen says he's an advocate of MeToo, and he takes pride in the fact that he hasn't been accused of sexual misconduct by women he's worked with over the years.
Photo: Global Panorama | Flickr
